The Calm Before The Storm (Naruto Secrets)
by TheFemaleReviewer
Summary: Constantly burdened by 'the ones they could not save', Hashirama and Madara 'escape', opting to live the life of Town boys, wandering aimlessly from village to village instead of being ninja. During their journey, they run into another key founder of Konoha. As a 'Naruto Secrets' story, this is as canon as it gets. No plot holes, no errors, it fits into the story line perfectly.
1. Chapter 1

The Calm Before the Storm

Hashirama

I put my hand against the tree on my right side, weaving in and out of the winding branches. The forest I was walking through was more like a jungle, but because it had been raining for a long, long time most of the forests around that area were rainy and marshy. If I stayed in one place for too long, my shoes would sink into the mud and the grass had grown so tall it was up to my knees. The trees themselves loomed high over me stretching out toward the dark gray sky beyond. I noticed a subtle rippling of light up there.

_I have to hurry, it might begin storming again..._

I followed my own footsteps, the path I normally took down to the river bank and I quickly came upon the single individual I had been striving all that way to meet.

"Madara."

He lifted his head but didn't turn around.

"I almost thought you weren't coming."

"Sorry, my little brother held me up." I explained. "He's been acting kind of weird lately... But never mind, you ready to spar?"

He said nothing.

"Hey, you're always going on and on about me being depressed and now here you are staring out at the river like a black blob." I remarked.

I nudged him with my foot.

"Finally realize you suck at Taijutsu?"

He suddenly turned around and grabbed my leg, the one I'd been pressing against him, and yanked me down. I lunged forward with the leg he was grabbing, my left leg, and planted my right foot in the dirt to avoid falling over. He let go of my leg, quickly hiking up his elbow and stopping just a centimeter below my crotch. There was fire in his eyes. He smirked at me.

"I could destroy you right now." He said.

"Okay, okay, wait! You don't suck!"

He grinned.

"Aaaaaand?"

"And you're awesome! The best ninja around!"

He relaxed his arm.

"You better believe I am."

I sighed and plopped down cross leggedly in the dirt next to him. He tilted his chin toward the sky, looking at the impending darkness.

"You ever wonder what the point of all this is?" he asked.

"All what? That ugly mop of mold growing your head?" I asked, digging my hand into his jet black locks and playfully shoving him.

He didn't even react. Our relationship was that of playful banter. We often spent hours just going back and forth and trying to see who could create the swiftest and most effective one-liner. I normally won because Madara wasn't necessarily comical in nature, but that day, he wasn't even trying. I stared at him, opting to take him seriously.

"You mean all the war? And all the fighting?"

He shook his head.

"Yeah. But I also mean life itself."

Thunder successfully managed to sound. The birds in the forest behind us cawed and flew up into the sky.

"Life...itself?" I asked.

There were times where Madara was so abstract in thinking, so beyond his years, that he lost even me. I blinked, watching him. For the first time, he turned and looked at me.

"When was the first time you've seen someone die?" he asked.

_That question... I never even asked myself that._

I rummaged through my brain searching for a memory and a wisp of one floated through. I looked up at the threatening sky.

"My mother died during my childbirth." I told him.

I picked at the grass.

"But still... It's not like I saw that. There were other people, too, when I was three or four years old. I remember seeing dead bodies getting buried. But after so long, everything just muddles together..."

A dim strip of lightning pulsated through the clouds.

"But anyway, how does this relate to today?" I asked him.

He shook his head.

"I was thinking about the first person who I ever saw die. He...wasn't handling a paper bomb properly and..."

_Boom._

"That happens all the time." I told him. "Even in my clan... I asked my father to raise the age of paper bomb bearing but..."

"_You dare defy me!? How will they defend themselves if they are denied even one weapon?!"_

"That'll never happen. If one clan does it, that doesn't mean all the others will. It'll put the kids in that clan at a disadvantage." Madara explained.

_Ugh... You sound like my father._

"I thought you were on my side!" I pointed out.

"Not if you come up with stupid plans!" he said elbowing me in the ribs.

We both laughed softly but my brain was churning, picking up on subtle nuances in the conversation. The real meaning behind his words.

I slowly realized I was unlocking a thought I didn't even know I had.

"You know, sometimes, I think that maybe war is just the natural state of things and that maybe for humans, peace is what is really abnormal." I pondered. "Like maybe war exists everywhere and we should just shut up and accept it."

Madara had been rolling one of his skipping stones around in his hands and when I said that, he clutched it hard.

_That's...too far._

"But then I just get over myself." I said, laughing. "You know I say depressing things too much."

He tossed his stone up and caught it, then up and down, up, down, again and again in a rhythm. Slowly, he reopened his mouth.

"I think of that all the time." He confessed. "Like maybe humans are all selfish and aggressive, and all they know is fighting and killing."

I shook my head.

"Not all of them." I said quietly.

He paused, staring at me, and then sighed.

"Maybe the only way to find peace is to...escape humanity." He said, throwing the stone up and out.

It landed in the lake at our feet with an echoing: _Thwock!_

A shock of lighting shot across the sky and then crackle of thunder happened quickly afterwards. I could hear the rain falling in distant places already.

Just out off of a whim, more than anything, I reached over and punched him the shoulder. As I expected, he swiftly hit me back. I kicked him and then rolled backward out of the way quick enough for him not to get me. He lunged for me, arms wrapping around my waist, and pulling me down the bank. The rain poured over us as we wrestled each other, rolling around in what was, by then, mud until we reached the water's edge.

"You're such a child!" Madara exclaimed, while shoving me down.

I just grinned, glad I succeeded in annoying him, even if it was just momentarily.

We finally rolled to a stop, with the rain pouring down furiously, and I pinned him down. My head blocked the rain from falling onto his face. His eyes seemed to travel to the sky behind me. Thunder boomed again.

"Sometimes, I wish I really _could_ just escape."

I pinched his cheek and sneered when he batted my hand away.

"This _is_ our escape." I explained to him. "No one can find us here."

He sat up, simultaneously pushing me off of him.

"I meant escape and never come back." He said quietly.

We were drenched in the rain. We both got up and ran to the base of a tree which shielded us from a good amount of the water. As I watched the darkening sky, something occurred to me.

_My father could return home early in weather like this... _

"I gotta get back home." I said, shaking the water out of my hair.

I turned and began my long trek back through the jungle.

"Already?" he called. "You just got here."

"Be here tomorrow, I'll come back." I promised.

He turned his face up to the sky which promptly flashed with lightning in response.

"...Okay." Was all he said.

Madara

"Where have you been?!"

I shook the water out of my hair and said nothing.

"Madara, I'm speaking to you."

"Training." I mumbled.

She grabbed my shoulder and pulled me around.

"You know how I feel about you going about outside of the clan territory alone!"

I smacked her hand away.

"I'm the leader of an entire platoon of boys _and_ men." I reminded her. "I'm not a child."

She mashed her lips together into a thin line, the way she normally did when she was angry.

"You're eleven years old. Show your elders some respect!"

_I'm almost twelve._

"Not when you don't show me any respect!" I retorted.

There was a creak behind us. We both turned to see my father walking into the room.

"Is there a problem?"

She crossed her arms.

"Tajima, our son here thinks he's allowed to just cavort around outside of the territory all day long without telling people what he's doing, where he's going or whom he's going with."

"I wasn't going with anyone!" I protested.

Then I glared at her and crossed my arms.

"Why don't you go harass Izuna or something?"

She opened her mouth, probably about to scold me for disrespect again but my father cut her off swiftly.

"Well..." he said, casually crossing his right leg in front of his left. "Our son is a young man now, Ayane. He wants to explore. I think we should give him the freedom to do so."

I could see the veins in her wrists standing out. She was clenching her fists.

"He's eleven years old, Tajima!" she exclaimed.

_Almost twelve._

"He hasn't even come of age yet!"

"Come of Age" was a term Uchiha elders used to separate children with the Sharingan from children without it. I was the first platoon leader in Uchiha history who hadn't come of age yet but it didn't matter. I was the Clan Head's eldest son. I had privileges others didn't.

"As I recall, he's almost twelve now." My father reminded her. "Aren't you?"

I looked up at my father with more open eyes.

"Yes." I replied.

"When I was around his age, I went on hundreds of training missions alone. Actually, one time I spent almost two weeks away, finding my own food and keeping myself safe. It's how you become a man."

He smiled softly called forth by the memories. My Mother's hands slid onto my shoulders protectively.

"You can't be serious." She whispered.

He shook his head.

"Madara's the most mature boy in this entire clan and even better than that, he's my son. He has the jurisdiction to do what he wants... Even if that means taking a long-term training mission."

_Long-term training mission?_

Suddenly, a world of opportunities opened to me.

_I could go... And maybe I could take Hashirama with me! An entire two weeks with him? That would be..._

"I won't allow it."

I stiffened.

_I really don't want to be disrespectful to you Mother but you leave me no choice._

I opened my mouth but my father beat me to it.

"You have no choice, Ayane." My father told her. "His word supersedes yours."

There was nothing she could say after that. It was a startling truth. In the Uchiha clan, women who were bearing children or who had already done so did not fight. They stayed at home and provided for their younger children and taught their female younglings house care. These women had virtually no rights to an opinion. And in opposition, when an Uchiha boy achieved a position of leadership, or came of age, he reigned superiority over all civilians and was allowed to have the last word against them. Even if that included his own mother.

She let go of my shoulders and turned around. Her long dark brown hair cascaded down her back in ocean-like waves. Her dark blue eyes which had been bright with the fire of mothering settled into dullness. She left us, heading in the direction of the room I shared with Izuna and not saying another word.

"You shouldn't be so hard on your mother either, Madara." My father spoke up as he headed toward the front door.

He picked up his sword holster that lay next to the door and fitted it on.

"You should understand a woman's feelings as well... Or how are you ever to get married?"

And with that he pulled the door open and left me in the darkness of the front hall. The silence of the house was eerie. Especially on that day. That particular day. Everyone was on edge that day. It was a normal occurrence in the house. I knew why she was upset. She knew why I was standoffish. We both knew why my father was siding with me. We all knew why the other was doing everything, we just pretended not to because we didn't want to open our ears to anyone else's pain. All for the sake of that stupid day.

_The anniversary... _

I shared a room with Izuna but I knew my mother was in there and I didn't want to hear her voice so I wandered through the hall and toward the other bedrooms, the ones that had been empty for so long, I barely remembered when they'd been occupied.

On the outside of one door there were two names.

Taiga and Tsubasa.

_My elder brothers... _

Taiga had died when I was six. He was the eldest in the family, leading a platoon just like I was then but unlike me, he had unlocked a form of the Sharingan. It was only one tomoe in each eye but unlocked nonetheless. Even though he had come of age, he was very impatient and rather belligerent in nature, acting first and thinking later. He led ten ninja, five boys, two women and three men, into enemy territory off of a simple rumor that they didn't guard their weapons facility properly. He was thinking to ambush them and instead, they were the ones that ended up getting ambush. The entire place was tagged with paper bombs. A few of his subjugates barely escaped and came back to tell us the news. We couldn't even retrieve his body because the enemy was still guarding it and as the others explained, the blast was so powerful, there probably wouldn't be anything to find. He was ten.

Tsubasa perished later that year. He went on a mission with my father to retrieve some Uchiha documents that the Senju had stolen. They went there and fought hard and got the documents and came all the way back with no issue. It wasn't until he set foot in the house that my mother noticed it. Tsubasa's fingers were a deathly blue color. They had been fighting medical ninja, very skilled ones at that. Word was spreading that some of them had the ability to spread disease just as quickly as they could stop it. My father took responsibility for it immediately, ashamed at not having noticed it. It was a miracle that he hadn't infected anyone else in that time but my father decided that what had been a weapon against us could be used in our favor. Tsubasa was given one last mission of his entire life: go downstream to the Uzumaki clan and infect them all with his disease. I remember watching them send him away, he wasn't allowed to hug or touch anyone. Not allowed within seven feet of anyone. The blueness had already spread up his arms and to parts of his chest. In his eyes... It looked like he'd already died. He nodded at me before he left.

"You're the eldest now." He told me. "Protect them."

Izuna and Itsuya were standing behind me, crying and crying. But I was old by then, almost seven, so I wasn't allowed to cry. Mother, Father and I watched him leave with dry eyes. Tsubasa was eight.

Four weeks later, we got the news that he'd passed before he could get to the village, we said nothing, thought nothing, expressed nothing.

"Is that so?" my father had asked, before getting up and leaving.

My mother stared at the table blankly, continuing to stitch together a pair of pants that I'd ripped early that week. And in my heart, I vowed to keep my promise to my brother. Keep the last two safe. But in the end, I wasn't even able to do that.

I walked back down the hallway glancing up at the pictures hanging on the wall. There was one of the entire family. Taiga had dark brown hair like my mother's and he grew it long so it was tied into a bun on the back of his head with a couple of curly locks framing his face on either side. Tsubasa also had brown hair, though it was a bit lighter. It was straight like my mother's and we wore it cut short in the back and long in the front. Though, the longer locks still didn't reach past his chin. They both had onyx eyes like my father. While Taiga and Tsubasa looked almost identical except for their hairstyles and Izuna and I looked very similar, Itsuya was the odd one out.

I paused in front of my bedroom door which was slightly ajar. It sounded like Izuna was crying. I peeked into the room.

Mother sat on the bed with Izuna curled up on her lap and hugged him to her chest.

"I keep having nightmares." He said tearfully.

"Shhh." She whispered."It's okay, I'm here."

But he continued sniffling and choking on his own tears. She hummed a soft tune to quiet him down. I pressed my back against the door frame and stared blankly at the wall in front of me. There were three beds in our shared bedroom. The one next to Izuna's had been empty for almost a full three years. My vision blurred in front of my eyes and I was taken back to the memory I'd been trying to repress the entire day.

"We get to go with you and Dad this time!?" Izuna exclaimed.

I sighed, tugging on my ears.

"Yes. But not if you guys are loud like that."

"Shhh!" Itsuya said to Izuna.

Izuna covered his mouth with both hands and looked up at me with apologetic eyes. I couldn't suppress the smile that stretched across my face.

"Come." I said, motioning to them.

Father often took me on training trips with just the two of us. It was around the time he was considering giving me my own platoon. I was nine. Around the same age Taiga was when he became in charge of his own. My father was eager to have another son to lead since Tsubasa had died before he came of age. It was most likely his hastiness that allowed him to give me leadership even though I still hadn't come of age.

We found a place in the deep woods to practice. Father was showing Itsuya and Izuna how to gather chakra while I was walking up trees and on branches trying to show them how to keep their chakra focused on a single body part.

"You also have to be aware of how to handle weapons." My father told them.

He tossed them both swords which they immediately went at each other with. My father rushed over to them and hit them both hard on the head with the handle of the sword.

"Never run at anyone you don't intend to kill!" he scolded. "Practice alone with weapons first."

They rubbed the sore spots on their heads and frowned, ashamed of being yelled at.

"Madara, watch their sparring." He told me. "I need to send a message downstream."

"Yes, father."

I heard their swords clinking against trees and branches behind me. I kept them in my line of sight and practiced on something else momentarily. I had seen my father do something interesting with his kunai knives, flipping it up with his foot, catching it with his right hand and then lunging. I attempted to do it a couple times, nearly impaling myself with it. Then I turned away from them, cursing myself for drinking so much water earlier that day, and then walked off near the bushes to be alone. Less than five seconds later, a voice popped up behind me.

"Madara, what are you doing?"

I stiffened and tried to block him out of my mind but it wouldn't work.

"Izu, give me some privacy." I said in an agitated manner.

Izuna snickered, poking me in the back.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you always get really embarrassed when you have to pee."

I blushed, feeling slightly inadequate compared to my baby brother.

"I don't even have to go anymore." I lied, retying my pants.

"Izu, Mada!"

We both turned.

"Look! I'm gonna tie the paper bomb to the kunai knife like how Dad did!"

"Itsu, you have to learn chakra control before-"

But then my voice stuttered as my eyes lay upon him.

Itsuya was standing there trying to tie the paper to the knife.

Strangely, at that moment, his difference became glaringly clear to me. The reason he was the odd ball in the family was because unlike the rest of us, his hair was very curly and coarse. He wore it long, so long that he often cried out from accidently sitting on his own curls. Because of it, people consistently assumed my parents had four sons and a daughter. He was also incredibly extroverted for an Uchiha. Very talkative and excited. He was born very, very small and initially, they thought he would die. Instead of dying, he just grew very slowly. He was the same height and even slightly thinner than Izuna even though he was a good two years older than him. His last difference was his eyes. He alone had inherited my mother's blue eyes. They shined up at us both as he thrust the kunai knife into the air triumphantly.

"Itsuya! Drop that!"

He wasn't experienced so he couldn't see. He had just been gathering chakra in his palms, but by touching the paper bomb right afterwards, he unknowingly spread chakra through it and...activated it.

He looked at the bomb, finally noticing it. And it seemed to happen in slow motion. His eyes widened and then, blue and bright, they looked at me. Izuna was going toward him, unaware. I grabbed his arm, turned on my heel and dove into the dirt. The resulting explosion was louder than any I'd heard in my life. Such close proximity. A wave of scarring heat I'll never forget washed over us. Then a jarring silence.

My ears were ringing. I slowly rolled over, wiping what I thought was my own spit off my shirt but as I touched it I realized it was blood, and not my own. I looked at the spot Itsuya was just standing in. His right hand, which had been holding the bomb, was completely disintegrated along with the right leg. There was half a body. Just half.

"Itsu... It- I-" I whispered.

_Hiccup._

I couldn't get the words out.

"Mother... Father..." I said instead. "Itsuya is... He..."

_Hiccup._

The intact half of his body was trembling. I watched it bucking and spurting blood, one of his eyes still locked on me and suddenly, I lost control of what I'd been holding in all that time and a rush of warmth emerged from my crotch, completely soaking the front of my pants.

_Hiccup._

I pulled myself up into a sitting position, finally noticing the persistent hiccup sounds. Izuna was sitting next to me staring at the body with dull, lifeless eyes. Blood was smeared over the right side of his face. He hiccupped again. I tapped his chest.

"Izuna."

But he didn't even look at me. I shook his shoulders.

"Izuna!"

He stared ahead with wide eyes, chest bucking and hiccupping like he couldn't breathe. I'd seen similar things happen to other kids on missions. He was in shock. I continued shaking him harder and harder.

"Don't leave me here alone! Don't!" I shouted at him. "When Dad get's back... You need to be here. You need to be here, too!"

But there was no use.

I shakily got to my feet, realizing that I was alone. I had been out with my father and my seven and five year old younger brothers and in just the snap of a finger I was alone. I pulled Izuna up and grabbed him firmly by the hand. Initially, he wouldn't walk but I dragged him forcing him to slide along the dirt until he finally got to his feet and stumbled along next to me. We both walked downstream, surrounded by our own thoughts. Izuna kept hiccupping. My awareness of self was coming back in short jumps and I slowly realized there was a reason I didn't need to pee anymore.

I barely remembered that walk though, in reflection, it felt like the longest walk of my life. At some time, Izuna had passed out. I remembered dragging him by his wrists and kicking him in the side, prompting him to get up but he was motionless and still struggling to breathe. Then I sat there next to him in my damp pants, staring at the ground and seeing nothing but not closing my eyes. At that moment, I would have been fine with death if it would have just come quickly.

Unfortunately, my father found us before death could come to the rescue. He had heard the explosion and run back to the meadow only to find half of one of his sons' bodies. By that time, thrown into hysteria, he had called the village to dispatch people to search high and low for us because he didn't believe we also could've been consumed by the blast without a trace. I watched him run to us, shaking with shame and fear of what would happen. I was in charge. I was supposed to keep everyone safe. I thought my father would hate me after that but instead he grabbed us both and hugged us tighter than he ever had in our lives.

"When I heard it, I thought all of you had-" but then he stopped himself, burying his face in our clothes.

I understood what he meant in spite of his pause. One dead child is better than three. And even more than that, I knew that my father saw Itsuya as a failure. A boy with blue eyes could not have inherited the Sharingan. And even more so, he was innocent, gentle, delicate in stature and small in size. Not a boy fit for battle. He was doted on by our mother and enjoyed being babied. I was certain that in the cruel world we lived in, my father didn't believe Itsuya would last long. But he was wrong. I was the true failure. A failure of an older brother. A failure of a leader. A failure of a ninja. My father carried Izuna, who wouldn't walk or respond, in his arms all the way home and I trudged along next to him.

My mother knew immediately. The moment we set foot in the house, she knew. No one spoke. No one cried. No one blamed anyone. We were Uchiha. She took Izuna from my father's arms and spent all night trying to get him to speak without saying a word to either of us.

He was irresponsive for a full two days afterward. And even after that, he often woke up in the middle of the night shaking and crying because of nightmares. A thing I had to endure for a long time. But I accepted it. I knew, and he knew, that I was the one to blame.

I glanced back into my bedroom to see that Izuna had finally gone to sleep. My mother adjusted him on his bed and then exited our room. Seeing me sitting there on the floor outside, she spared me one long look and then turned, hair swishing behind her.

_I understand why my absence frightened you so, Mother. But we all need to seek some kind of refuge... Every anniversary... Of Itsuya's death._

Hashirama

I lit the candle in my room to see that Tobirama had been sitting there in the dark. The candle cast shadows all over the room and the thunder boomed outside.

"Where do you keep going?" he asked me.

"I'm training." I replied, tossing my ninja pack to the floor and hopping into bed.

His expression told me he didn't believe me but he sighed and rolled over in bed, saying nothing.

I understood Tobirama better than anyone else in my family but unfortunately, it wasn't a two way street. He was often confounded by my decisions and the choices I made. He heckled me by calling me too soft to be a ninja and at times asking father for a higher position than me because he didn't believe in my decisive capabilities. But even though father believed in me even less than Tobirama did, he knew that, when I had to, I could be more ruthless than any of them.

Tobirama sat up momentarily, pulling a jacket off of the headboard. As he lay on the bed, he draped it over him. Slipping his head under and curling up for warmth, even though it was far too small to cover him completely. I sighed.

_And you call _me_ soft..._

The door creaked open and I raised my eyebrows to a woman. She tossed her wavy white hair over her left shoulder and smiled at me fondly.

"Just get home?" she asked.

I nodded.

"You're lucky your father isn't here. You know he'd like to know where you're going."

I shrugged.

"Just doing some stand alone training, I can't have Tobi stealing all my techniques again." I said, making a silly face at the sleeping bulge in the other bed.

She laughed softly and came over, sitting on the edge of my bed.

"Well there's no doubt you'll grow up to be a fine ninja then."

"Of course!" I exclaimed. "Look at these muscles!"

I flexed for her then, outstretching my arms and showing off the thickness of my biceps. Her eyes widened comically.

"Ooooh." She said feeling them. "Amazing."

"What if I could get them to be bigger than my entire body?" I asked.

"Then I'd make you join the traveling art performers instead of being a shinobi."

We both snickered. Tobirama rolled over in his bed and his arm fell over the side. She got up momentarily and repositioned the shirt he'd picked up over his torso.

"Doing that..." I began, as I pulled my own shirt off. "Is just going to make him dependant."

She ran the shirt through her own fingers before she placed it back onto him.

"He can't carry it around forever." I went on, pulling my pants off.

"We all know that, Hashi." She said quietly. "But sometimes, a little thing like this is necessary... Just as a small reminder as you live on."

_A small reminder? So that we don't forget? No, more like so that we're certain. Certain that there really was a kind-hearted, insightful baby boy named Itama once. A boy who had worn that exact same shirt._

"I'm sorry, Hisa-san." I said quietly, bowing my head as I spoke. "I'm so sorry."

I could see the grimace on her face as she stroked Tobirama's hair.

Hisama, or Hisa-san, was my father's second lover. The mother of Tobirama and Itama. A clear indication of my separation from her was our appearance. I was a spitting image of our father with dark brown hair and eyes. Hisa-san and Tobirama both had white hair and pale red eyes, the signs of a strong water user. Hisa-san often could produce water in her palm without any body of water being present. It was a rare gift. Though Tobirama was just nine years old, he was already adept at moving water from lakes to other places at great distances, though he had yet to produce it from thin air. Hisa-san often said that he was more skilled than her, destined to become a great ninja. Itama had our father's dark eyes and his hair was partially white, though it had been all dark brown like mine when he was first born. Hisa-san said that in some children, the whiteness of the hair begins at one side of the head and, very subtly as they grow, it stretches until it encompasses the entire head. When Itama died, half of his hair was already white. Because of this, Hisa-san predicted that if he had lived just another year or two, he would've been a full blown water user, though perhaps a weak one.

"I told you already to stop apologizing for that, Hashi." She said turning to me. "He wasn't very skilled at recognizing his surrounds yet... There was nothing anyone could do."

_Itama... I was so focused on the mission, I'd let him leave my sight for a second, just one second and the next thing I knew..._

"He got lost in the shuffle." She went on. "Not just then...but often times, he..."

That was also true. Itama was quiet... All of us, even I, usually forgot he was around. We all just expected him to show up but never actually registered his presence. We just took it all for granted.

She came over to me and gave me a hug.

"I love you no matter what happened." She whispered.

I hugged her back feeling lost in my own thoughts. Suddenly, Madara's words came back to me.

"_I meant escape and never come back."_

As I held my brother's mother to my chest, I finally could understand what he meant.

_Can we just move on from here?_

Her white hair brushed against my cheek and I closed my eyes.

My own mother, Kama, had died giving birth to me. But I'd never felt any kind of animosity toward Hisa-san for 'taking my mother's place' or moving into our house. I adored the two younger half-brothers that she'd blessed me with and I enjoyed her presence in my life. Even more peculiar, she had formed a bond with me that was in ways, stronger, than the ones that she had with her own sons. Tobirama bonded more with our father, striving to be just like him in every way. He walked after his footsteps more steadfastly than I ever had. And Itama, though very gentle and compassionate, was also rather introverted and timid. He didn't form much of a connection to either of our parents. He often drifted around finding friends and companions in people outside of the family, like Kawarama, and only truly speaking his mind when he was around Tobirama or me. Hisa-san was thirsty for someone to show affection to and though I was the eldest and most responsible, I also wanted someone that could understand me. Someone that I could show my true colors. And somewhere along the line, she had become that for me.

"I've been meeting a boy." I confessed.

She pulled back and looked at me questioningly.

"For a long time now, I've been going down to the river to meet up with him. We think the same things. We...understand each other."

She sat on the edge of my bed and watched me intently. Tobirama was fast asleep. My father was out all night either scouting or doing some other kind of mission. He was often on long-term missions which is why he never noticed that I left so much.

"What clan is he from?"

I looked down.

"We never told each other."

"He refused to tell you?

"In a way."

"He must be a ninja." She mused. "What clan would you assume that he's from?"

I felt exposed, and not just because I was wearing nothing but underwear, but because I felt that she knew the answer before she even asked it.

"Perhaps... _That_ clan."

She stiffened, her face, her body, everything.

"Hashi...you're playing a very dangerous game." She said seriously. "This kind of relationship could set off a chain reaction causing hundreds of casualties."

_It doesn't have to._

"If that boy truly turns out to be from that clan and betrays you, all of our necks will be on the line. Do you understand? You must be extremely careful with him." She said. "Don't reveal anything."

"I haven't." I said, restraining a sigh. "I know better than that."

"I know you do. I'm just reminding you..." she said. "I know you like to play games but this isn't funny at all."

"I trust him." I protested.

It could've been the fierceness of my eyes or the tightness of my jaw but she stopped short.

"And he trusts me." I continued.

She looked down at the floor.

"You said he's also twelve?" she asked.

"He's slighter younger than me. Right now, he's eleven." I told her.

She was silent, thinking the information over.

"It's possible he hasn't unlocked his Sharingan yet." She concluded.

She went quiet for awhile again, then she looked at me. The warmth in her eyes returned, replacing suspicion, and she smiled at me.

"I suppose, as long as he doesn't have the eyes, he's not too much of a threat."

A smile spread on my face, too.

"You had me worried for no reason!" I said, tugging at her shirt. "I thought you were going to tell father!"

"I would have." She said. "But...you seem to trust him unquestioningly."

"The way he speaks." I mused. "He's...different."

"Then I guess you're two shuirken in an eight-tool holster." She joked.

Then she clasped her hands together.

"Alright, it's late enough." She said. "Lie down and rest."

But I still had something else on my mind.

"Hisa-san, I don't believe that he's truly an Uchiha." I said, trying to get her attention.

And to some degree I didn't, though I had my inklings. First and foremost, he seemed too easy to read to be an Uchiha.

"But your suspicions have given me an idea." I began carefully. "I'm thinking of maybe going on a mission with him, to test him, see what kind of person he really is."

She cocked her head.

"Don't you think something like that is a bit excessive? Not to mention life threatening..."

"But he could be a threat to us otherwise." I told her. "I'll take this as my personal top secret long term mission. I'll lure him away from the Senju clan and get as much information out of him as possible. If I'm successful, he's completely harmless."

"But the way you described him, he doesn't sound like a fool." She said. "Do you really think he'll fall for that?"

"He's an emotional wreck." I explained, grinning at my own inside joke. "He won't be able to resist the idea."

She shrugged.

"Okay." She said. "Go ahead with this secret mission and I won't tell your father."

She gave me a stern look before grasping the door knob.

"But come back _alive_." She said, with those warm, red eyes of hers.

I nodded vigorously.

But I didn't have any intention of coming back alive. In fact, I wasn't even sure I had an intention of coming back at all. I glanced over at Tobirama snuggling under the shirt sleeping soundly and remembered his words.

"Where do you keep going?"

_Lately, he's been so interested in where I go and what I do because it's almost been a year since Itama's death... _

And with that thoughts of Itama swam back into my mind's central occupation. In seconds, as it is with all painful memories, it was if I was drowning in it. Being suffocated by the biggest error of my life.

Itama was easily misunderstood. Very easily. He definitely was the meek, tender boy everyone saw him as but he was also very mentally gifted. Often times, when Tobirama and I went back and forth on strategy and planning out missions or routes, he was right there with us, even at the age of four or five, pointing out things even I couldn't see. He was tough like Tobirama but not to the point of being abrasive or too concrete in thinking and he was playful and gentle like I was but also not too idealistic or soft. He was like the perfect cross between us both. If he had lived, he would very well have been the best Hokage candidate between the three of us.

The problem was that I thought I understood him, so I trusted him. Perhaps a bit too much.

"They're onto us." I called back to my platoon.

I was just shy of twelve years old, leading a small five man group by myself consisting of my thirteen year old cousin, Shoutama, two distantly related teens around seventeen years old, and my seven year old younger brother.

"Should we scatter?"

"No!" I told them. "Too risky. We'll go as a unit like this until we get a good sense of who it is."

"I caught a glimpse of them already." One of them called to me. "I can tell they're Uchihas by the colors on their backs. It's about five or six of them."

"Then that's even more reason to stay together, one on one will be too risky at this point." I told them. "Stay unified."

We were running for our lives but Itama had bounded up to where I was, falling into step next to me.

"Get into position." I ordered.

He shook his head, speaking up in that quiet way of his.

"It'll be smarter to scatter, brother." He told me. "They can corner us too easily this way."

I knew that but one of my solid core beliefs of leading was that a team stayed a team until the very end.

"They're trying to get the medical vial that Shoutama has." He went on. "If he goes with one other person and the other three of us go another direction, they'll follow the three thinking that the other two can't possibly have it."

His reasoning was spot on. I'd already considered a plan like that.

"I know you hate taking risks, Hashi, but isn't the mission the point?" he asked.

That was also true. The point of any mission was mission success, not casualties. I personally decided that the success of the mission relied on how many lives were saved but most leaders never paid it any mind.

"Fine then." I said. "I'll go with Shouta-"

"No, it's obvious that you're the squad leader." He said. "They'll know he has it for sure if you go with him. I'll do it."

"They're gaining on us!" someone exclaimed.

"Itama, no." I had initially said.

"I look young and defenseless." He protested. "So, they'll never expect it."

"Because you _are_ young and defenseless." I said to my baby brother.

"They're coming!" the others warned.

It was a split second decision. Itama was right in a way, just running altogether would lead us into conflict and if that happened, I'd be so busy trying to protect him that it would salvage the mission and ultimately, the majority of us could be killed or injured. To create the least casualties, a sacrifice needed to be made. So...I...

"Go." I told him.

He nodded firmly and fell back, relaying the plan to the others. I watched him pair up with Shouta, take the vial and run off. We sprinted in the other direction. If everything went right, the Uchihas would continue following us and in the case we had to fight them, at least the vial would be on its way to safety, along with Itama. That was all I thought about.

I didn't know what happened. All I knew was that we kept running and running and finally, one of the teens pointed out to me that he sensed no one following us. That was when I knew. That was when I froze.

We ran back as quickly as we could. I barely remembered those few minutes, running, jumping, diving, trying to get there, trying to get him. We came upon Shouta first. He lay in the middle of a meadow with charred skin and melted hair. The only way we could tell it was him were the melted pieces of orange cloth tied tightly over his hair. He liked to wear that bandana every day.

At the sight, my heart was panging in my chest. I knew I should've been sorrowful for Shouta but I didn't care. The footsteps around his body were multiple. I followed them, running and stumbling through the trees until I came upon a large stone mount embedded in the hillside next to the river.

It was quiet there. The birds picked at seeds that had been dislodged by the many, many footsteps surrounding the area. And then there was the body. Sitting against the stone mount with his hair wafting in the wind. I had been screaming. I didn't realize it until I coughed from being out of breath. Then, I walked up to him. I reached out. I lifted his head with my fingertips. His eyes stared lifelessly out at me and the blood on his chin was almost dried. His body was cold. I wondered how long he had been dead. I wondered how long I had been aware. Then, before I could react in anguish or depression, I saw something glinting in the sunlight. It was difficult to open his mouth because his body had hardened but I got it open enough to pull out the shimmering thing... The vial.

I slipped it into my weapons pouch and that was when I decided that I needed to go home. No matter what, I needed to take him there. Take him back home. I lifted his small body up into my arms and walked there. Walked the entire four miles home. The two others had taken care of Shouta's body, bent on carrying him home to his family too.

I'll never forget that moment. Stepping into my house, my normally loud, cacophonous house. Strangely at that time, like a premonition, it was silent. I stood there in front of the front opening, waiting and waiting. A drop of Itama's blood hit the floor.

"Hashi! Ita! Is that you?" a male voice called. "Good, now we can begin going over technique again. Tobi is already outside-"

And then at the sight of me, he stopped short. He stood in the front hall, walking toward me slowly. He looked from me, to the body in my hands, back up to me again and again and again like this for a full silent minute. I remembered glancing at the water basin next to the opening of the house and seeing my reflection. I was solemn and dead looking, there was blood all over my shirt and arms, and my cheeks were tear stained, even though I couldn't remember crying.

"You said Hashi's home?" another voice perked up. "Great, I need help with the-"

But before I could ever discover what she wanted of me, she screamed. The scream was blood curling. Loud, hair raising. I almost dropped Itama at the sound of it. It startled me back into awareness. Shocking the life back into me like lightning. My mouth moved, began sputtering for words.

"I... I..." I began, but it was still too early for words.

And then Tobirama came. He pushed his way between his mother and father also startled by the scream and when he set eyes on Itama, I could almost hear the breaking of a heart. He was silent for a long time. Then very abruptly, he shook his head hard and clenched his fists.

"No, no, no!" he shouted.

I slowly lowered Itama to the ground at my feet and oddly, worked on positioning his hands to lie on his stomach even though it was impossible with the way he'd hardened.

"What did you do!?" he shouted.

I looked up at him.

"How could you let this happen?" he exclaimed. "Itama was _your_ responsibility!"

"The plan..." I choked out. "His plan... He planned to sacrifice his safety for..."

Then I pulled the vial out and held it in my palm.

"The mission." I finished.

"You don't get him at all!" Tobirama shouted. "He might seem like he's all strong and dependable, but he's just a _baby._ How could you trust him with something like that?!"

I couldn't find the words to defend myself. I wasn't even sure if I _had_ words to defend myself. Tobirama looked down at the body angrily.

"He was probably... Standing there, shaking and crying in his last minutes wondering why his big brother ran away, letting him die!"

"Tobi!"

He paused, looking up at his mother who had called him. Her eyes were set on the ground, on Itama.

"We do _not_ blame people for things in this house!" She scolded, eyes never leaving Itama.

He stopped, swallowing hard. Tears came to his eyes. I was shaken deeply to my core. Tobirama hadn't even cried when some of our best friends and cousins died.

"You're soft...and _weak_." He told me. "You don't deserve to be squad leader."

He turned on his heel then, leaving us with the silence of a child who used to grin and smile. Hisa-san collapsed onto her knees, shaking with an inconceivable amount of tears and sobs. Father got to work wrapping Itama up for burial. While he did so, he hummed a melancholy tune I'd never heard him sing before and didn't say a single word. The vial was kept in our home, rumored to be one of the strongest healing serums ever created. And Tobirama... For a while, I was certain he hated me. Truthfully, I _still_ believed he hated me to some degree.

In reality, I had been the elder brother taking positions of responsibility and learning things first and much quicker, whereas, Itama and Tobirama were somewhat twins, training with Father at the same time, successfully completing new techniques at the same time, eating together, sleeping in the same bed. He had always been a lot closer to Itama than I was. I often wondered if would've made that fatal miscalculation if he had been squad leader instead.

I gazed at Tobirama from across the bedroom and finally lay down in my sheets as the candle flickered out.

It was probably killing him, being stuck in that deadpan silent home all that time while I disappeared somewhere almost every day and Father went on missions. Mother said he spent all his time alone practicing new jutsu he'd think up in his spare time. And for that, for leaving him with no one to turn to when I was gone, no one to protect or be protected by... I was truly sorry.

_But...still, I can't stay here with you... There's something I have to do. _

Madara

I had the idea in place in my mind as I woke up the next morning. Or rather, as I was woken up. Izuna was shaking me, nudging me back and forth.

"Let's go practicing, Mada." He said.

I rolled over and sat up as he smiled up at me.

_Here's one person I'm not sure if I can leave behind... _

I ruffled his spiky black hair.

"I have to speak with Father right now." I said. "We'll play another time."

"Training isn't playing." He said, frowning.

I half wished I could take him with me but I knew that with the over-protective stance Mother had taken over us, he wouldn't be going out on any missions. She had even discouraged Father or me from training him for the most part. Mostly all he did was sit in the house and help Mother keep things tidy. Yet, part of me was glad for this rule. I would rather Izuna be kept as a house slave than going on dangerous missions all day. But, I knew it wouldn't last long. Father was being lax because he understood Mother's pain but soon his own thirst for another prosperous son would transcend his desire for Izuna's safety.

I got out of bed and pulled on a pair of pants with one of my robes overtop.

"I'm gonna be leaving for a while, Izuna." I said as I left the room. "Make sure you have something interesting to show me when I get back."

He nodded, grinning.

"Maybe I'll even have the Sharingan!" he said. "And I'll be better than you!"

"That's a cute dream you had." I replied.

I found Father behind the house sharpening one of his swords for use.

"Father." I called.

"Yes, son?"

"Something you said yesterday caught my attention." I said.

He paused in sharpening, looking up at me.

"Oh?"

"I've decided that unless I unlock my Sharingan like I'm supposed to or train extensively, I'm not worthy to be a platoon leader."

"It's impossible to unlock your Sharingan at will, Madara." He said, refocusing on his sword. "You know this."

"I do." I agreed. "Which is why I've decided to go on my own long term training expedition like you told me about."

He froze.

"Oh, really now?"

"Yes."

"And you think this will help you unlock your Sharingan?" he asked.

"If not, then at least I'll know in my heart that I'm worthy."

He was quiet for a while and then examining his sword against the cloudy sky he regarded me offhandedly.

"Are you still hung up about that trifling error from that time?"

I knew what he was talking about even before he finished. Itsuya's death.

"...Maybe."

"Hm." He muttered. "Then away with you. Come back as a man who takes pride in his errors instead of letting them haunt him."

"Thank you, Father."

_Playing directly into my hands._

"But you'll have to be the one to inform your Mother." He added quickly.

I couldn't help but smirk, my father's humor showed up in interesting ways.

"Scared?" I taunted him.

"I just don't have the patience for her mouth." He said, giving me a knowing grin.

We laughed but I walked away not worried in the slightest. Mother was standing in the inner hall as I came in. I was certain she was peeking out of the door trying to guess what I was talking to father about.

"I'm leaving for a while." I told her simply. "Keep Izuna at home while I'm gone."

"And what, may I ask, is this little excursion for?"

I turned to her. The tension between us was heavy, almost suffocating. Her bright blue eyes pierced into my onyx ones, staring me down.

"A coming of age." I explained.

Her expression didn't change even slightly.

"You're wandering into dangerous waters again, my son." She warned me. "Preserve your life. You don't realize until you get to be my age how special it is."

"I appreciate life, Mother. All I ask is that you protect that of my younger brother."

"Consider Izuna, then." She replied, quick on the uptake. "How would he feel if he became an only child?"

"He won't be an only child." I said. "So he has nothing to worry about."

I was already walking down the hall, sick of looking at her. She leaned against the wall watching as I grabbed the knob, turned it and fled out into the cloud day.

"Come back _alive_." I heard her call.

_Naturally._

Hashirama was there before I was. He stood in front of the bank silently with his scarf swaying in the brisk wind. One glance at his face made me feel like he had slept as little as I did but for what reason I couldn't be sure. Our faces were blank as we stared at the river which was much wider and deeper than usual because of the consistent rainfall. That day was also cloudy, the sky was so low, it seemed like I could reach up and grab it.

"I want you to leave with me."

And then seconds passed with neither of us reacting to the words that were said. Finally, I cocked my head and spared him a glance.

"Why?" I asked.

"I don't even know why myself." He remarked.

"My Father gave me permission to leave on a solo long term training mission from today onwards." I confessed to him. "I told him I wouldn't come back until I feel like a man."

"So, basically, you're _never_ going back." He joked.

I rolled my eyes. We were silent for a while and then he spoke up again.

"You ever feel like our lies are actually the truth but we just don't realize it?"

I snickered.

"Only an idiot would fall victim to something like that."

He began pouting immediately, sticking his bottom lip out and pretending to cry. I sighed.

"You're such a child." I said, quickly changing my words. "I'm sure everyone feels like that."

He grinned, getting what he wanted.

"Even the 'Great Powerful Madara'?" he asked me.

I laughed.

"Stop it with the nicknames or I might get used to it."

"Of course you would like something like that." He said, sticking his hand into my hair like he normally did. "You're so egotistical."

I pinched his cheek in return.

"At least I don't act like a baby when something doesn't go my way."

He made a face.

"That's not true. If you say you won't go with me right now, I won't throw a tantrum."

"Yes, you will." I said immediately.

He burst into laughter and danced around me, making silly faces.

"Alright, Alright! You got me!" he declared, grinning.

_I know this guy like the back of my hand... He's incredibly stupid in personality. He loves playing pranks and games. He spends most of his day just thinking up ways to have a laugh. It's like the world is his playground. Or at least, that's the way everyone probably sees him..._

I stuck my foot out, tripping him onto his back as he spun around me again. Then I promptly put my foot in his chest.

"No, _now_ I got you." I teased.

He grabbed my foot with both of his hands and then his eyes traveled up to the sky which was darkening.

"It's going to storm soon. If you want to take a crack at me, you'd better do it fast." I said, following his eyes.

I allowed him to slowly get his bearings.

"Well, you sound confident... So, I guess it's time for me to show you my...brand-new jutsu!" he exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

I watched him quickly weave the necessary signs and clap his hands together. Before I could decipher what he was doing, a narrow tree root pulled up from under the ground and wrapped around my right ankle.

"Gotcha!" He exclaimed, slipping into an attack position. "And now..."

I watched him dart at me and then jump in the air, launching his foot at me.

_Foolish... _

I put my hands together and also formed some quick signs with my chest expanding simultaneously. The rain began to fall precisely at the moment that a flame ball burst from my lips and rushed toward him. I smirked.

_Never rush at an Uchiha._

He fell to the dirt, pressing his back firmly against the ground to avoid being completely toasted as the blast passed over his body. I walked up at him and held my hand out.

"Nice jutsu, but you lose this one." I said.

He sneered at me. And I inwardly sighed.

_That face... That playful face he always has right before-_

His leg swiftly slid around and collided with mine, tripping me. I fell backwards and he immediately tackled me to the dirt. He raised his fist trying to catch me in the jaw but I blocked the hit with my forearm, then he tried to dig his knee into my stomach but I blocked that with my spare arm. I planned to buck back and roll over so that I was pinning him to the ground but the next thing I knew, a tree root rose and wrapped around my waist, holding me there. After a couple more seconds of struggling, I knew I was literally tied up and couldn't do anything.

"Say I'm the strongest ninja in history and I'll let you go!" he said.

I rolled my eyes.

_As if I'd ever..._

"You cheated, Hashirama!" I grumbled.

He laughed, getting up off of me and removing the root.

"It's not like you would've won even if I played fair!"

As he stared down at me, his grin began to fade.

"Last time, you said it'd be nice if we could escape..." he said quietly. "I know that we can never escape this for good but wouldn't it be nice to take a break together?"

I looked up at him. Momentarily, the dark ominous clouds from before parted and the sun peeked at us, giving us warmth. At that moment, he held his hand out to me and it got me thinking.

_Everyone sees him as a joke but I'm the only one that can see the underlining... Deep inside, he's just as dark as I am. Just as conniving. Just as ruthless. Just as solemn. Even though, he's much less likely than I am to show his true nature, we mirror each other._

"Don't you trust me?" he asked.

And because of the truth of his personality that no one was aware of except me, I trusted him more than anyone else in my life.

My hand moved and grabbed onto his as the sunlight began to dissipate. He pulled me up and stood before me, smiling.

"Let's go." He said.

Author's Note: Thanks for reading this Adventure Story I wrote for Hashirama and Madara! Diggin' this story? Review it so I can add the next chapters! No reviews? I'll just assume you guys aren't interested.

Up Next: Discover why and where Hashirama procures his affinity for gambling, meanwhile, Madara keeps finding himself neck deep in a world of trouble!


	2. Chapter 2

Hashirama

"This is so dumb." Madara complained as we hacked our way through the trees.

We began trekking north. My village lay east and his west. We both knew without telling each other that we didn't want to cross paths with either of our villages so north and south were the only directions available to us. We decided on a random kunai toss, him picking the dull point for south, and me picking the sharp side for north. The kunai landed on the sharp side and we pursued north. Unfortunately, north lay a vast jungle of rainforests that extended as far as the eye could see.

"The trees are so dense, it's almost impossible to get through." He went on.

And Madara was making sport of complaining since he lost the kunai toss and was still rather sore about it.

I paused momentarily and put my hands together, trying to see if I could use my newest jutsu to assist us.

"You can't move an entire forest." Madara said, cocking his head.

"Just watch me!"

The ground began rumbling, birds flew up into the sky, branches above began crashing down onto our heads.

Madara's mouth was completely ajar. I shook my head.

"That...wasn't me."

We looked up at the hill we had been descending to see a wave of rocks and mud burying the trees and blasting toward us.

_It's because of these consistent thunderstorms... They've created a-_

"Mud slide!" Madara yelled.

We began running. We were running faster than we'd ever run together in our lives, heels kicking up, arms swinging, red in the face. I could feel the mud beginning to reach my sandals. Suddenly, Madara hands swung awkwardly in my line of sight. I turned to see that he'd tripped over a mole hole and was busy trying to get his sandal out of the dirt while a rush of mud came for him quicker than lightning. I turned on my heel and jumped up grabbing a branch above my head with my left hand and his hand with my right.

The mud overcame us, going up to Madara's chest. He hung onto my hand with both of his hands, kicking hard to try and get out. The mudslide was too powerful and in a very unlucky moment, the branch I was holding onto snapped, dropping me about a foot. I hung on by tethers and the mud was rushing by up to Madara's neck.

"Don't let go!" he managed to exclaim.

Our fingers were red and our knuckles were white from the pressure of trying to hold onto each other. The mud began to roll to a stop and just before it ceased moving all together, the branch I was holding onto snapped, and I retaliated by grabbing onto the tree with both hands, accidently letting go of Madara. But because the mud had stopped rushing downhill at such a fast pace, he wasn't instantly overcome.

"This is lucky." I proclaimed.

"Not yet." He warned. "I'm sinking."

Which was true, his chin was falling down into the mud quickly. He craned his neck upwards trying to keep his face out of it. At the time, I was baffled by the occurrence. How could mud suck you in like water? I wondered. However, much later, I became familiar with the term "quicksand".

"Okay..." I said, trying to think quickly. "Wait here. I'll be right back."

His face expressed shock and a little more than that, perhaps fear? But he nodded slowly.

"Hurry."

I jumped away from him, from tree to tree, searching far and wide for the one thing I needed to help him.

_Finally! I giant tree!_

I landed at the bottom of the tree and pressed my hand to the dirt. I closed my eyes, sensing out the life. Miniature creatures, ants and even small microorganisms bloomed down there, running up and down the tiny, tiny roots. I could sense the droplets of water moving through the stems of the flowers, or running all the way up the trunk of a tree and out to the farthest leaf petal.

_All of you... Help me... Help me find it._

And as I peeked at each and every one of the life forms in my minds eye, as though understand me, they all moved out of the way giving me a clear line of sight to...

Yes! An extremely large tree root. I followed it down. All the way down the bank and felt when the root was pressured, pressured by a large amount of mud. Tendrils of the tree root extended upward into the mud and even though it was taking a lot of chakra out of me to go to that extent, I searched hard until I found one that touched him, touched his hand. Through the root, I could feel his inner body as well. He was breathing heavily, most likely panicking. I felt the terror ricocheting through his veins and I knew that he'd gone under. I manipulated the tree root to wrap around his leg from my position and as hard as I could with my chakra, I began the slow process of pulling him up and out of it.

_Come on, Madara. Just hang on..._

But he was struggling against it. Perhaps, because it was an entity he wasn't aware of it and to him, it probably felt like the root was pulling him under instead of out.

_At this rate, he won't be able to hold his breath._

I dug both hands deep into the dirt and grabbed onto the actual root that extended all the way to him. And, using a force of chakra I didn't even know I had, I was able to pull him out. I could feel his legs, torso and then head being drug out. I could feel the breath crashing into his lungs as he surfaced, writhing around in the dirt.

I jumped up from my spot and ran the quarter of a mile over to where I'd left him. Just like I'd seen in my head and felt with my chakra, he was lying there, wiping the mud out of his eyes, coughing up dirt. I dove onto him, hugging him to my chest.

"You're okay!" I cheered.

He coughed as I held him and weakly pushed me off him.

"Was that your jutsu?" he asked.

I nodded.

"Pretty awesome, right?" I asked, flashing him a sly smile.

He shoved me hard.

"You could've told me that's what it was." He complained. "You had me thinking something was trying to _kill_ me."

"I know!" I said, poking him. "I could read your heart rate with my trees. You were about to piss your pants!"

"Shut-up!" he exclaimed, getting to his feet. "I hate you..."

He trudged along through the vines and I jumped onto his back, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Because that's how you treat someone who just saved your life." I said smirking. "You ungrateful moron."

"Idiot." He retorted.

"Jerk." I countered, jumping over a couple branches.

"Clown!" he yelled, jumping over the mud rush.

"Egotistical bastard." I muttered.

Then before he could counter, I pointed.

"Look!" I exclaimed. "It's a town."

We, at the edge of the gigantic rainforest we'd been trekking through all afternoon and evening, stood on a hill that rose over a town.

"I've never been this far north before." I said with raised eyes.

"Hey, look!" he exclaimed, pointing to the horizon beyond.

There was another, smaller, hill past the town and then a vast land of nothing but sand and desert.

"That'll be difficult to travel through." He observed. "We'll need to stock up."

"You think we're going to travel through that tonight?" I asked.

"Of course." He replied, flicking a couple dried mud balls off of his shirt. "I want to go as far as there is."

I looked at him, for the first time noticing the ambition in his eyes and the courageous grin on his face. It was like this trip was a new challenge, a new obstacle he wanted to hurdle over. I looked onto the horizon with him, eyes layering over the little town districts sprinkled about and soaking in the sky which was in the process of getting very dark because it was so cloudy.

"Wouldn't it be cool if we could travel the entire world?" he asked, holding his arms out horizontal as far as they could go.

I smiled at the childish gesture and fist pumped.

"Yeah!"

We jumped down the hill, swinging off of lone branches to propel us and skidding down the mud slide, sometimes slipping or falling or rolling, but never stopping, never pausing.

_The world can be our playground... Can't it?_

Madara

It took a long time. It was a full two days longer than we expected before we figured out how we were going to get the supplies we needed to move on past the desert. Hashirama, ever mischievous, was all for just stealing it and leaving them a 'sorry, we'll pay for it later' note.

"Do you really think that's smart?"

"Who's going to catch us? We're ninja!" he exclaimed.

I jumped on him, looking around fervently.

"Don't talk so loud. We're not ninja. Remember?" I whispered.

He rolled his eyes.

"Loosen up, Mada. I know. We're just _normal_ kids, here."

And we certainly looked like normal town boys. We came across a kind woman in our first hour of wandering around the town who offered us "normal" town clothes, dinner and a place to sleep that night if we ran her Inn shoppe for two days, which was the real reason we were held back. I felt like it truly would be a waste of time, thinking that we could fend for ourselves with no problem, but I didn't want to resort to stealing so the option looked attractive at the time.

"You just don't want to walk around in your poop robes all week." He joked when I agreed.

So, we ran the Shoppe, which sold shoes and clothes that the townspeople and tourists from all over often came to buy. It was there, while I was sweeping out the back room, that Hashirama working the cash register heard about a deal.

"You want money, kid? Come join us." I heard the man telling us. "It's a square, square deal. You won't leave empty handed."

I peeked around the corner to see Hashirama, eyes shinning, nodding at the man.

"And all I have to do is win the game?"

"Hell, you don't even have to win the _whole_ game. Most of it is just lucky fun, you know?"

"Heck yeah, I'll be there." He said in that cheerful way of his.

The man and his two conspirators behind him smiled.

"Great... That's gonna be in the basement under the brothel in the next town over, ya hear me?"

"Got it."

I walked up to him, eager to figure out what was happening but the woman we were working for met him first.

"Be careful with those ones, young man." She warned. "They may seem like they live exciting lives but they only prey on young boys like yourself to turn them into criminals."

"Ah, they won't do anything to me." he said, raising his sleeves. "Check it out, I'm strong!"

She allowed him a small smile and then sighed.

"Just be careful."

When she left, he came up to me, grinning ear to ear.

"I know how to get money!" he exclaimed.

"Well, go on. Let me hear it."

"Those guys said if I win a simple card game, I'll win all the money everyone bets."

"We don't even have any money to bet." I pointed out.

"Yeah, I know." He said, pulling the apron that the woman had given him off. "That's why I'm betting my life."

"Your _what_?!"

He grinned.

"Relax! What's life without risks?"

"You're really _a lot_ dumber than I thought." I said.

He dug his hand into my hair and lowered his voice.

"You really think I'm going in without a game plan?" he asked, eyes twinkling. "There's a reason why I didn't tell them there are two of us."

It took me a second, but then I caught on.

"Why am I even surprised?" I asked him.

At night, we left the woman's Inn for good, thanking her for the accommodations and the clothes. She smiled at us fondly.

"I don't know why." She said. "In this day in age, you two could've murdered an old woman like me and taken all that you'd have liked."

Hashirama made a face, probably bent on saying that we weren't those kind of people.

"But, the two of you... For some reason, you look like my grandsons." She said quietly. "Those two lovely boys... Such beautiful boys... But they're dead now."

We stared at her as she began sweeping again.

"Their father was a ninja, trained them in the arts... They both perished before they even reached the age of eight."

She began humming a sorrowful tune. One that stuck in my head, keeping the hairs on my arms and neck erect until we were far, far out of that town. The mood was hampered until we got to the next town over which was frankly like nothing I'd ever seen before in my life.

There were candles everywhere, huge ones, small ones, lightning up the entire three mile long strip which was filled with people, to the max. People, people, people. All walking, talking, selling, buying, running, hiding. So many of them. I'd never seen so many people altogether in my life.

"This must be a Tourist Town." I said, looking around.

Hashirama jumped up onto a bench and then on the roof of the nearest house. I followed him and we continued hoping up until we were high above all of them.

"This is amazing." Hashirama breathed. "I never knew Tourist Towns existed."

"My Father says they're all naturally sinful places where evil people lurk." I recounted. "It looks more like a waste of time to me."

Men hit their cups of drink together, liquid sloshing over the sides before they cocked their heads backward and downed them. Women sauntered about, dancing and luring the drinking men. Others sat in semi-circles playing intricate instruments to lighten the mood. And still others ran, laughed and hopped about, on some kind of life high I couldn't understand.

"Everyone seems so happy here." Hashirama said, eyes reflecting all the bright lights. "I wonder if..."

But then he cut himself off.

"Hey, look, that's it!" he said pointing to one of the shorter huts smashed between two very tall structures.

"It says brothel outside." Then he turned to me. "We're going to have to play this real safe."

"How?"

"You're going to go in first, figure out where they're going to have the game, and then hide in the room, then when the game starts, you'll tell me all the right moves to make so that I win."

I was already hopping along with him in logic as he spoke.

"Wait... You're not going to use..."

He shrugged.

"I have to, Mada. It's the only way."

I smashed my hand to my face.

"We're gonna get caught..."

"Just hide like I told you and we won't. I'll keep it real quiet."

"How are you going to keep a random tree root slithering across a floor quiet?"

He winked at me and said nothing else. Like we planned, we got to the brothel where he hung back and I walked up the steps, planning to enter but the moment I tried, a man popped out of nowhere.

"Where the hell do you think you're going, kid?" He asked me. "You do realize this is a brothel, right? Go find your Momma's tit before I smack you senseless."

_I'm getting really tired of people not addressing me with authority... I'm the son of the head of a clan that could murder your entire family at the blink of an eye._

"I...really need to use the bathroom." I said, purposely widening my eyes and looking fretful. "Please?"

I could hear Hashirama snickering around the corner and made a mental note to insult him later.

"Can't you just go out there?" he asked pointing at the road.

"I can't go when people are watching me." I said truthfully, with my cheeks involuntarily flushing.

He sighed.

"Hurry up... And let yourself out through the backdoor, I don't need any bad business."

I walked along the dim lit hall searching for the place that could be the door to the basement when an unnatural sound stopped me in my footsteps. I turned to see a woman advancing toward me.

"Looking for a date, boy?" she asked.

_A...date?_

I surveyed her appearance, she was wearing a robe that draped very low off of her shoulders and barely covered her thighs.

"My room's right over here if you want to take a peek inside." She said, nudging the door.

"I'm looking for the basement." I said. "I'm just here for a card game."

Her entire façade collapsed immediately.

"Oh, you're one of _those_ boys?" she asked, rolling her eyes.

She turned and went back into her room.

"Last door on the right." She called over her shoulder before the door slammed.

I headed where she advised, for the first time noticing grunts and moans coming from the rooms surrounding me. I walked a bit quicker, assuming there was some kind of torture ritual going on, and pulled the door to the basement open. Echoes of laughter wafted up.

"Hey, look who I found sneaking around the side." Someone said.

I edged toward the basement room and peeked around the corner. A man with shoulder length whitish blue hair with a bandana tied over it had Hashirama by the collar. Three other men, one with dark brown spiky hair with a bandana tied on his forehead like a headband, another with a shaved head and a bandana tied around his neck, and a last one with pink hair that stopped at his ears and a bandana tied around his arm. All of their bandanas were different colors, but the presence of them bothered me.

"Sit down, kid." The pink haired one said. "I was wondered when you were gonna show up."

They all emptied their pockets and put the money they were betting on a stool next to the table. Before Hashirama sat down, he glanced up. Just by chance, he noticed me and with only his eyes, I could tell he was about to begin. He sat down and the others sat down and the game began.

"Ahhh, when I win this, I'm definitely gonna have enough money to buy that sweet charmer up there." The white haired one said, resting his head in his palm.

"Charmer?" asked the brown haired one, scratching his head. "Whacha' mean, Nanamba?"

"You know the girl, Kakeru." The pink haired man said to him as he cut the card deck in half. "Always standing in the hall trying to lure people into her room."

My ears perked up.

_Are they talking about the lady I just met?_

Nanamba nodded eagerly, swishing his white hair around.

"Yeah, I've been saving up all month for her, man."

Kakeru rolled his eyes and nudged the pink haired man.

"Sounds desperate, right, Masato?"

They both leaned back in their chairs and roared with laughter that shook the whole table. Masato slapped his right hand against the wooden table repeatedly.

"Oi, Oi, Nanmba!" he said. "How much is she worth?"

"She's offering for around 2,000." Nanamba said, glancing at the money on the table. "That's only half of what's lying there."

They both continued laughing again and even the man with shaved hair who had been silent the entire time cracked a smile.

"She's scheming you, man." Kakeru told him, setting out his first hand. "That bitch ain't got nothing half of us ain't already seen some way or another."

"Nothing special." Masato agreed, also taking his turn.

"It's not like you guys have tried with her." Nanamba accused.

Masato and Kakeru exchanged glances and then snickered. Nanamba's face burst into disbelief.

"Really, guys?! Her, _too_? I thought I said to leave her for me!"

"She was offering, wasn't she?" Kakeru asked, sneering at him. "Besides, like we say, she just an old loose bitch anyway."

Nanamba said nothing, slowly spinning a coin around on the edge of the table.

_He's clearly the weak link... If Hashirama's plan fails, I could probably get him onto our side._

"Loose, you say?" the bald headed one asked. "But I thought you told me it was good."

Masato laughed.

"It was! But not in the conventional way, you have to take it 'round back to get any pleasure with her."

"Face down, too." Kakeru added. "Shuts her damn mouth up."

"Then when you're finished with that, you can work on getting her to-"

"Oi, lay off it!" Nanamba suddenly exclaimed.

Everyone turned to him. Kakeru's eyes narrowed and he gripped his cards.

_And that one seems to have a flaring temper. _

"Lay off..._what_?" he asked tersely.

Nanamba began stuttering.

"L-Lay... I mean... S-Stop..." he looked to Hashirama who had been watching them all with open, eager eyes the entire time and put his palms on his ears. "I-It's just that... T-T-This one's young!"

Everyone except him laughed, even Hashirama.

"Hey, boy." The shaved headed one said. "You like girls, right?"

Hashirama didn't hesitate to nod.

"And one day you'd like to do the nitty-gritty with them, yeah?"

Hashirama grinned from ear to ear.

"Definitely."

"Then he's a man in my book!" the guy said, raising his glass and tapping it against Kakeru's.

Everyone cheered in agreement.

"But... You're only like...ten years old." Nanamba persisted. "You can't really want to go that far."

He shrugged, seeming to contemplate it.

"Yeah, I guess not..." he said, then a look crossed his face, a look I'd recognized since the day I met him, and I involuntarily sighed. "...Not if she's _loose_."

The table immediately burst into an uproar.

"Genius!" the shaven man said.

"I love this kid!" Masato exclaimed, giving Hashirama a one armed hug.

"He's a natural!" Kakeru agreed, ruffling his hair.

He laughed hard along with them and took their compliments and gestures of affection.

_That guy... He's getting way too comfortable with them._

"I'm done with this shit." Nanamba said, rising to his feet.

He pulled his cloak off the chair and pushed past them all, letting himself out through the backdoor.

"Aw, you always ruin the fun with your childish crap." Masato called after him.

"Don't bother coming back." Kakeru heckled. "We're inaugurating the kid instead."

"Then let's have a toast!" Hashirama said, sitting up and grabbing the jug off the table. "To us!"

The men nodded and chuckled.

"To us!" they cheered.

Drinks were poured, jokes were shared, there were hours worth of laughter...and then silence.

My legs cramped as I got up from the position I was sitting at. Hashirama grabbed one of the satchels the men were carrying off the floor and dumped all the money on the table into it.

"Keep a look out for the door." He said to me.

My eyes surveyed the room. Kakeru was lying back in his chair with his mouth wide open, snoring. Masato curled up on both his chair and the chair that Nanamba had left, with his head in Kakeru's lap, and the man with shaven hair who I had yet to discover his name slept with his arms folded on the table.

"You...planned all this, didn't you?" I asked. "Right from the start?"

He shrugged.

"Initially, I was going to go with what we'd planned but I decided, what's the point of wasting chakra if I can just use their own vices against them?"

"Alcohol, women and money." Hashirama said, shaking his head at them. "Hisa-san always told me, those are a man's worst enemy."

"Yeah, and a Tourist Town is where they all come together." I said, bending down to help him scoop up the coins on the floor.

"Before I forget." I spoke up. "What did you mean about 'loose'?"

"Huh?" he asked, picking up a couple other things off the nearby dressers and stuffing them into the bag.

_Such a thief..._

"Remember, the joke that made them all like you?" I asked.

"Ohhhh" he said, shrugging. "I was just going off of what they were saying. I don't know what it actually meant."

I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

_Of course he wouldn't know. It all goes back to his personality, being such a likeable guy, he can easily play into people's hands._

But as I watched him get the last bits of money into the bag, I couldn't help but admire him slightly.

_Even though he's a mess of immaturity, he's incredibly intelligent and cunning... A bit too much, though..._

I looked around, hearing footsteps sound on the steps that I had descended from.

"Come on, let's leave."

We ran out of the front door and into the dark alley, sandals slapping and sliding against the muddy path. Hashirama tightened the satchel and hoisted it higher onto his arm. I could see the people walking back and forth beyond.

_If we just get there, even if the men wake up, they won't find us in all these people._

But then...

Right as we got to the end of the alley, a person stepped in our path. We both skidded to a stop and looked up at him. He was wiping his face which was wet with tears and blushed vibrantly as his eyes set upon us.

"W-Where are you going?" he asked him.

Hashirama, so quick on the uptake, flashed him a reassuring sign.

"They sent me to go buy them some more drinks but... I think they fell asleep in there. I'll wake them up when I get back, okay?"

Nanamba nodded and hung his head, slowly making his way past us and back down the path without even acknowledging me.

_That guy's an idiot. He didn't even notice our bag._

We bolted from the town as fast as we could, through the many people and then bounding up on top of the houses. We didn't stop running until the bright candle lit district was far, far on the horizon. Only then, as we entered a very, very long empty field right before we got to the deserts, did we relax.

I fell straight onto my back, letting out a sigh I didn't realize I'd been holding in and Hashirama began laughing half hysterically. He threw his arms up and behind his head and lay next to me.

"It's official, Mada." He said. "We're wanted criminals now."

Strangely, a part of my brain reached back to the time, just a couple days before, when I was a ninja boy in charge of my own platoon faced with the fear of death every minute of every second. But this...though dangerous, was not deadly. It wasn't frightening or scarring or painful. I found that, oddly, it was fun.

"What a rush!" He went on. "Amazing..."

Suddenly, something occurred to me.

"You've...never done anything bad before, have you?" I asked him.

He turned to me. The clouds, which had been hanging over us for days and days, parted and the moon and stars broke through. A bit of dim light washed over us and I felt the cool breeze that moved the clouds coming through.

"Not really..." he admitted. "I never really made trouble at home. I mean, I'm the oldest, so I have to be responsible for my brothers."

I nodded.

_So, in some sick twisted way, doing this is your way of fulfilling some suppressed childhood urge to be... To be what?_

"I know what you're getting at." He went on. "I guess doing this is fun because... I've never really gotten to be reckless."

_That's right. Reckless, childish, thoughtless...irresponsible. _

"We're men already...so... I guess seeing all these people treat me like a little boy... It kind of felt-"

_Good?_

He frowned, cutting himself off, and looked back up toward the sky.

"Maybe this is bad for us." He said. "And we should go back."

The word 'back' made me think of my mother, father and brother. The depressingly heavy sadness hanging over everyone. Something everyone avoided and did not mention for fear it would break the family in two.

"I think my Mother hates me." I spoke up randomly.

He looked back at me, eyebrows rising.

"How could you say-"

"Because I know I hate her." I cut him off.

I rose my hand to the sky and blocked the moon with my hands, looking at it between the space between each of my fingers.

"I hate it when she looks at me because I know what she's thinking." I said. "I know deep inside she blames me for the death of my younger brother."

He was looking up at the sky, too.

"And she tries to pretend she doesn't by keeping me trapped in the house and saying she does it for my safety but it's really because she wants someone to rot in that dammed house with her."

I turned to him, feeling angry.

"She can just go drown in her own tears for all I care." I told him. "I wish she'd disappear."

We were silent for a while and then he rolled over, facing me.

"You know, I always thought it was weird how many similarities we have." He said.

He paused, flicking a bug from the grass off of his shirt and then scratched his stringy dark brown hair.

"The mother of my two brothers lives with us." He said. "And I always deep inside believed that she hated me for not saving my youngest brother..."

My eyes had been locked on the moon but then I turned my head to him, we locked eyes.

"I always thought she hated me and...sometimes... I even hated her back for it. I just wanted everyone to understand that...that..."

"We're not perfect." I finished.

_We're kids. We can make mistakes... But we can't. We have so much pressure. So much..._

"Well, I talked to her about it seriously the other day and I discovered that... She actually doesn't hate me." he said, then a small smile broke out. "She loves me. She told me that... Even if she isn't my true mother, she'll always love me like her son."

_And this is where we're different..._

I closed my eyes, searching my brain for any time in my life my mother had even told me she was proud of me or that I made her happy or even that she enjoyed my company and found none. Not even _one_ memory... So how then, could I expect her to love me?

Hashirama's slow breathing sounded next to me and I looked back up at the sky.

_Maybe your clan tells each other they love each other all the time, Hashi, but I don't even know if we are _capable_ of love._

Hashirama

"Brother..."

I stirred blinking but seeing nothing but darkness.

"Brother, I need help..."

I tried to get to my feet but it was impossible. There were no feet... Or hands... Or anything. I felt like I was sinking but I could feel no body with which could sink.

"Help me... Hashirama!"

I wanted to cover my ears but there were no ears. I kept blinking, trying to see any other color but blackness, straining to see but there were no eyes either.

_What is this? Why can't I get out? Where I am?_

"Hashirama!"

_And that voice, why does it sound so much like his voice? Is it him? Could it really be him?_

There wasn't a mouth or throat for me to speak with. There was nothing. But I forced the name out of me, forced it to come out.

"ITAMA?!"

"HASHIRAMA, HELP!"

I sucked in a frighteningly cold breath of fresh air. The face in front of me startled me and I retaliated by swinging my arms around, flailing and grasping at the person. Shocked, he pressed down on my arms, holding me down.

"Calm down! It's just a dream."

Upon hearing the voice, I abruptly stopped moving.

_Madara..._

The more still time passed, the more I realized that his words were true. After seeing I was truly awake, he let go of my arms, allowing me to pull myself up into a sitting position.

A cold sweat ran down my body, perpetuated from a chilly air of wind that blew through the empty plains. I tried to steady my breathing but it was taking a long time. The only warmth I could feel on my body came from my eyelids where tears were desperately trying to escape the hold I had on them. I failed. The rush of wetness and salty warmth came anyway, running down my cheeks. Already understanding my feelings, he turned away from me, suddenly very interested in the satchel I had stolen the previous night.

I looked out onto the horizon. It was early morning. The plains were calmly silent. The sky was still dark blue with some stars but, far, far out onto the horizon there was a hint of white. The longer I stared, the more the white grew until other colors splashed into view with it, indigo, royal blue...

I found my mouth moving.

"Living around so many trees, I just realized, I've never seen a sunrise..."

Madara turned away from the satchel and crawled up next to me. The wind blew, ruffling his shirt. My eyes zeroed in on it, recalling our bargain for them.

The clothes the woman had given us to wear were experimental, things she was trying to see if she could make popular. We wore different variations of the same outfit. Madara wore a long sleeved white, cotton textured shirt that was divided in the middle using a thing she called "buttons". He always kept it buttoned down, exposing his chest, the collar on the shirt was always extended and his sleeves were always rolled up to right above his elbows. His pants were also different, something she called "shorts" which were a dark, charcoal gray color and stopped just above his knees. My shirt was a brand-new creation that I'd never seen previously. It was a see-through, mesh material, pressing firmly to my chest and back, sleeveless and black in color. To go over it, she gave me what she called a "jacket" which was light green colored and held together with something else she called a "zipper". Unlike buttons, the zipper jacket creation resurfaced after I died, becoming a popular thing for boys to wear in the newer generations. The jacket was thin material, light in weight and slightly big on me, extending past my waist. The sleeves of my jacket were also too long but unlike Madara, I didn't roll them up. Because of this, my hands were mostly hidden from view. My shorts were dark blue. We both wore black sandals which were high enough to cover our ankles.

Our sandals crunched on the hard, dry land before us.

_Looks like the rain didn't get this far..._

My eyes traveled back to the sun which had inserted itself far above the horizon into the sky by that point.

"What are you thinking about?"

I smiled sheepishly at him.

"Just our clothes."

He smirked.

"Realizing I _still_ look more stylish than you do?"

I frowned, tugging on the collar of my jacket which I kept down.

"I like my clothes!"

He laughed at me.

"I think maybe, in our village, the ninja should wear jackets like these."

His laughing rang out louder.

"No way, they'll be wearing cloaks!" He said. "And they'll be black and have-"

He cut himself off.

_Black cloaks? That's a lot like..._

"I mean..." he trailed off. "Cloaks are cooler."

"They'll easily get caught in things. It looks cool but it's not smart."

"What?! Only stupid people get their cloaks caught!"

I stuck my bottom lip out and stared at the ground as we walked. A couple of silent moments and then he broke down and sighed, just like I knew he would.

"Fine... What's your idea then?"

"Armor's heavy. It'll weigh them down." I prophesized. "I'm thinking long pants, a long shirt, and a jacket like this one. Super cool looking."

He tilted his head, most likely imagining it.

"I guess that's okay...but no armor?"

"Even now when we use armor, it gets in the way more than it protects us. It's too heavy."

"But wearing a long sleeved shirt _and_ a jacket is also heavy." Then he lifted his arm up, showing me. "It's restrictive on the elbow joint."

He crossed his arms and we both thought hard about it for a moment, then he snapped his fingers.

"We'll need vests!" he said. "Perfect for arm movements and also fitted with the extra layer."

I smirked at him and interlocked my hands behind my head as we walked.

"You're just saying that because vests look more stylish."

"No, they'll have extra padding in them." He explained. "Fortified so that kunai and shuriken can't pierce easily. See? It's effective _and_ stylish. Something _you _wouldn't understand."

I slapped him on the back and quickly dodged as he tried to hit me back. I ran, with him quickly on my heels, twisting and turning around brisk, rotted brown trees and jumping over sand mounds.

The rest of the day went on like that, filled with a very prolonged chasing game.

"Hashi, stop hitting me!"

"You sound like a girl!"

But all good things come to an end, often very abruptly. We hit a strand of abandoned, burned down villages right outside of the sand-filled area. We walked through, calling for people, searching under fallen homes and finding nothing except corpses upon corpses.

"We can't leave them like this." Madara said. "If we bury them, they'll be alright."

I didn't want to. Unbeknownst to Madara, I had been deathly frightened of dead bodies since my younger brother had died. But my dream from that morning was still fresh in my mind and I wanted to be of assistance to the dead in any way I could.

"O-Okay..." I stammered.

And so, we buried a village full of people, men, women, children, in some circumstances when the body wasn't full, we placed the parts carefully next to each other in joined holes. When we were finished with one, we moved onto the next. We worked diligently, covering the holes fully.

After the third village, when the rotted, putrid stench of dead bodies began to get to us, we were lucky to cross paths with another town, one that was neutral to all the wars and much like the Tourist Town we had gone to.

There, we feasted. It could've been a way to get our minds off of the depressing deeds we had just done, or perhaps we'd never had the opportunity to eat so much until then, but either way, we ordered up tables of food.

"Hey, can I get another round of apple slices over here?" I asked.

"Don't forget the caramel!" Madara added.

Then he nudged me.

"Hey... You see those kids out there?" he asked.

Just outside of the restaurant doors, there was a horde of children. They were all dirty and poor looking, like they'd been abandoned.

"Looks like they're hungry." I said.

The store manager, who had over-heard us, nodded.

"A really terrible thing happened to those ones a couple days ago." He recounted. "Some warring clans passed through and terrorized their villages. They murdered everyone they could find. Those children are all that's left..."

He shook his head sadly.

"More than 500 people collectively and now a couple of kids are all that's left... Such a shame. I fear that...one day, these damned ninja wars will destroy these lands once and for all."

He turned, going back to sweeping.

We stared down at the food on the table and then looked at each other. Without another wasted second, Madara raised his arm and beckoned to them in a single fluid motion. They were hesitant at first, as though they couldn't understand Madara's intent, and then one of them, the hungriest looking one, pointed at himself. Madara nodded and beckoned them again. Without another wasted second, they all rushed in, about ten of them, and hurriedly took seats at our table.

The restaurant owner turned back around, looking at us questioningly.

"You'll feed them all?" he asked.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever they want, it's on us." I said grinning.

The kids fist pumped and cheered.

The man tipped his hat to us.

"We need more kind young men like you boys." Then he turned to the kitchen. "Bring out ten more bowls!"

They looked to be a lot younger than we were. They bounced in their chairs, rubbing their palms together and tapping their fingers on the table as we waited. When the food came, it was clear that they had been starving. Their hands, dirty or not, plunged into the dishes.

"Thank you so much!" one of the girls managed to say.

"It's no problem." I said.

_Something about this... This feeling I have inside... It's warm. It's comfortable._

We had gotten so much money from those guys at that brothel, we still had some to spare even after all of that. After leaving the restaurant and making our way out of the town, we realized the children were still following us.

"Go ho-" Madara was about to say, but I elbowed him hard enough that he stopped short.

_You never think before you talk...What home could they possibly go to?_

"What's up, guys?" I said, offering them a smile.

"You guys are homeless, too, aren't you?" one asked.

"Did you come from one of the ravaged villages?" the smallest one questioned.

"If you're like us, how did you get all that money?!" the girl who apologized said.

I raised my hands.

"Uh... Guys... I..."

Madara pulled the satchel from around my shoulder and tossed it to them. The oldest one caught it, looked inside, and then clutched it to his chest, looking like he'd seen a piece of heaven.

"We can't answer your questions." He said. "But we _can _give you that. Take it."

They're eyes were wide. The one who held the satchel was shaking.

"You can't be serious..." he whispered.

"I am." He said, then he nodded to me. "Let's go."

"Wait!" the boy holding the bag exclaimed. "What are your names?"

"Hashirama." I said, saluting them.

"Madara." He told them, without turning.

They watched us all leaving and, like we were some kinds of gods, they got onto their knees and bowed to us until we were out of sight.

_It's the least we can do... Ninja, people like us, are the reason for all their pain and suffering. How dishonorable. During all our fighting and warring, we can't even take the time to notice the destruction we're leaving in our wake... _

Madara

Since we got rid of our money, we had no option except to go back to stealing, or as Hashirama called it, gambling.

"I'll bet 4,000." Hashirama exclaimed, slamming his hand down.

I hung my head as I hid under the table he was sitting at.

_We don't have 4,000... We don't even have 100!_

"Whoa, kid. You sure are confident, let's see what you got!"

_Of course he's confident. He has me._

Underneath the table, unbeknownst to all the players, I looked at the cards they held in their laps and gave Hashirama signals what cards to play. When Hashirama pointed to a player he wanted to bet against, I tapped his leg to let him know if it was alright to do so or not. Most of the time, I sat down in another part of the room, in a place that I could see all the players cards and then Hashirama used his roots to discover what I was thinking based on my heart rate but we almost got killed doing that one of the last times when one of the players got suspicious of me sitting so closely. Since then, I began hiding under the tables.

"Why can't I play the game and _you_ hide next time?" I'd asked him after the game that day.

He counted the money, grinning at his spoils.

"Because you _hate_ gambling."

"It's cheating." I told him. "You're _always_ cheating."

"Whatever it is, you don't like it, right?" he said, then he hit me on the head with the money bag. "We got the money, cheer up!"

"You're a gambling addict, Hashi..."

He gave me a look, one of his playful ones. I darted ahead of him, running around the last bar in the party district and onto a dirt road. It was late at night, the only thing to be heard was the sound of owls and our footsteps crunching along the dirt. There was a long narrow strip of tall trees at the end of the district. I ran inside, keeping my feet along the path until I heard sloshing sound. I stopped in my footsteps. Hahsirama rammed into my back, slipping on his own two feet and we fell into the bushes.

"Ow!" he moaned.

"You're so clumsy." I said.

"You're the one that stopped suddenly." He replied.

The sloshing sounded again. We crawled along under the bushes until we discovered a large hotspring. No one was there save for a young girl who stood next to the side whipping her arm back and forth testing the water.

"It's a girl." He said.

She was wearing a white shirt which covered her chest and arms but exposed her stomach and a long, flowing white skirt on her waist.

_She looks kind of like an angel..._

Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail that was braided down her back but as we watched, she unbraided it and swished her hair out, letting it spill over her shoulder.

_Her hair is red. I've never seen that before..._

Hashirama put his hand on my shoulder, pulling himself closer.

"Wait... I think she's going to..." he stopped himself, eyes widening.

She reached for her waist, preparing to pull her skirt down. I immediately got onto my knees and began backing out.

"Let's go." I said.

"...Huh?" he said, eyes locked on her.

"Hashi, I'm serious."

"This is like a once in a lifetime chance..."

"That doesn't make it okay!" I protested.

"It kind of does..."

I sighed.

"So, you're a gambler and a _pervert_ now?"

He finally turned to me, sneering. I could sense the joke coming from a mile away.

"You're one to talk! At least I wasn't caught digging through a garbage bin for an _adult_ book yesterday!"

I grabbed for him, succeeding in pinning him to the dirt.

"I thought it was a map!" I protested.

"Liar." He said, still sneering. "How the hell could that look like a map?"

_I really did think it was a map... But even after I did find out, curiosity got the better of me..._

We rolled around, ramming each other's faces into the grass and kicking up dirt.

Loud splashing sounded from the water, alerting us that she'd finally stripped down and jumped in. Hashirama, who was on top then, looked up.

"Mada, she's completely-"

I grinned, using his distracted moment as an opportunity and flicked dirt up. His hands flew to his face, rubbing hard.

"Ow!" he exclaimed, covering his eyes.

I sat up, laughing.

"That's what you get, you moron!"

He began backing his way out of the brush and then abruptly shoved me, causing me to lose balance.

"You're the moron!" he retorted, grinning at his success in getting back at me even without sight.

But I didn't return the smile, I had pressed my hands backward, trying to stabilize myself but felt nothing, instead, I continued falling backwards. Hashirama's face reflected my shock as I rolled back, bursting out of the bush and rolling down the hill. My head, arms and torso plunged into the hot spring and, to avoid drowning, I gripped the side of bank and pulled my head up.

I knelt there staring at her. She had gotten back out of the water and was standing on the stone mount next to it, brushing her hair out. When she saw me standing there, she froze, watching me with wide eyes and a dropped jaw. I couldn't stop my eyes from going over her pinkish skin, which was completely bare, the drops of water making their way down her stomach, and down to her...

_Oh, shit..._

I blushed, shaking my head, and quickly pressed my hands to my face, covering my eyes.

"It's not what you think!" I yelled.

I heard a couple quick movements and curiously removed my hands. To my utter surprise, she was gone.

After a few silent seconds, Hashirama slid down next to me.

"Sorry, I didn't know you were going to fall."

"I really hate you..." I muttered, but my eyes were glued to the spot that she had been standing, something shimmered in the waves.

"You jerk! You're the one that threw dirt in my eyes! I could've really gone blind!" he exclaimed, then he whistled. "But that was intense... You're lucky she didn't, like, scream or something."

_That's right... She _didn't_ scream, did she?_

I walked around the bank and knelt down next to the shimmering thing. It was a silver ring, rather inexpensive looking, with a heart shaped hole in it. I picked it up, and as I did, a rush of warm spread through the tips of my fingers. I examined it for a moment longer and slipped it into my pocket.

"Come on." I said. "If that girl was bathing here, there must be another town over. We might be able to pay for an Inn there."

He ran and fell into step with me.

"Yeah... And then we can see that red haired girl again..." he said, practically drooling. "I've never seen a girl prettier than her in my life."

"Whatever..."

"So, was she gone before you could pull yourself out of the water?" he asked as we slashed our way out of the thin forest.

"What?" I asked, craning my neck to see if I could spot any towns on the horizon.

"The girl." He said. "Did you actually _see_ her?"

I knew what he was getting at. My mind flashed back to the startled expression on her face when I rolled into the spring.

_The way she looked at me... That was more interesting to me than anything else._

"No." I replied.

He jumped in front of me. He only had to observe my face, with my slightly red cheeks and my eyes refusing to meet with his, to know I was lying.

"You lucky bastard." He said, giving me an incredulous expression. "I can't believe you'd go and blind me and then go look at her yourself."

I slipped my hands back into my pockets, fiddling with the ring.

"You're the one that pushed _me_." I said, then I smirked. "It's karma."

He grinned.

"Fine, fine, whatever... But you're gonna have to tell me all about it."

"Never."

We continued walking farther in silence as we both pondered our own things. Just like we had predicted, it wasn't long until another town came into view. Though, the town was very, very large, a lot larger than the others that we'd been to, it was much quieter and there were less lights on the paths. As we entered, a couple of men walked around, trading with others but it was dark so I couldn't get a good look at anyone's face.

Randomly, Hashirama's last sentence swam back into the front of my mind. I grinned, realizing what he'd said.

"You're such a loser, you know that?" I said. "You really want to see a naked girl _that _badly?"

He directed his eyes away from me.

"Shut up..."

I laughed.

"You're even more pathetic than you look!"

"At least I didn't cover my eyes like a _baby_." He replied.

His eyes flashed in the moonlight.

"Scaredy Cat." He remarked.

"I wasn't even scared!" I shouted. "How could I be scared of a stupid naked girl!?"

"You were acting like it!" he retorted. "Do you even _like_ girls!?"

I blushed deeply.

"Of course I do!" I crossed my arms angrily. "Go away! I hate looking at your stupid face..."

He frowned.

"Fine, I'm going."

"Good."

He walked a couple of steps away and then turned.

"Aren't you going to call me back?"

I turned away from him, clearly indicating I was too pissed to call him back that quickly. He sighed and I could hear his feet shuffling away. I slipped my hands back into my pockets and was shocked to not feel the ring I had just placed there.

_Where..._

I retraced my footsteps back to the front most part of the town and noticed something glinting in the dirt right under a bench. I knelt down and picked it up, realizing there was a hole in the pocket I put it into. I sat down on the bench under the lamp post and turned it over in my fingers.

"Good thing I found it again..." I muttered.

But I wasn't even sure why I was glad I found it. It wasn't very likely that I'd ever see it again to give it to her. However, something about the heart carved into it resounded with me. I had a strange feeling that it was a very sentimental object.

_I should just put it on my own finger so I don't lose it again..._

Suddenly, that warm feeling came back and it almost looked like it was glowing.

_That's strange..._

"Yo!"

I looked up. Someone stood over in the shadows. He pointed at me.

"Kid... Come here." He called.

Again, because of curiosity more than anything, I got up off the bench and walked over to him. He shifted anxiously on his feet, brushing the light brown hair, that hung over his forehead and ears like a helmet, out of his large, bright blue eyes.

As I neared him, he bent down to my level and offered me a kind smile. Immediately, I gave him a once-over, deciding that he was no older than twenty five.

"Hey, little guy... Are you lost?"

He lifted his hand to my cheek, softly brushing against my skin with the back of his fingers.

"I have a cottage...up over there..." he said, pointing somewhere in the mass of trees behind us. "I can take care of you."

His hand dropped, sliding down my neck, and then caressing my bare chest.

"Come with me."

Before I could respond, his hand closed around mine and he yanked me toward him. It was the kind of motion that made you take five steps before your brain even registered that you were walking.

Strangely, my eyes zeroed in on the clothes he was wearing. They were oddly, and unusually brightly colored. Like they were made specifically for catching the eyes of children...

But before I could comment on them, a man, much taller and burlier than the other, stepped into my view delivering a very vicious blow to the side of the other guy's head.

"Why don't you get a damn job!?" he roared furiously.

He shook his fist out and retracted his leg, kicking the man firmly in the side.

"You lunatic!"

The guy quickly got to his feet and ran off into the trees, stumbling and tripping and never looking back. The other man watched him the entire way he ran out of the town and massaged his fist. I stared up at the guy as he pushed his large, rounded, black hair back into place.

_He's dark skinned... _

I recalled my father mentioning a visit to the land of the lightning during one of his mission preps.

"_Most of the people there are darker in skin tone than we are and specialize in lightning attacks, the same way we specialize in fire." He had told my brothers and I. "Even the ones who aren't ninja are really strong physically and mentally. Avoid them at all costs or I can't guarantee you your life."_

But what is someone from the land of the lightning doing here?

"Hey, kid." He said, bending down to my height. "Watch yourself. Never go anywhere with a person you don't recognize. That man was going to do something very, very terrible to you, got me?"

Then he stood up.

"These are dangerous times. You can't be wandering around on your own at night, boy."

I raised my eyebrows, finally realizing that he thought I was in some kind of danger.

_Please... Even if that man did find a way to drag me back to his cottage, I'd have the entire place up in flames in less than a millisecond._

Without looking at me, he sighed and scratched his head.

"Are you alright?"

_I'm Uchiha Madara. The strongest Uchiha of my age and even stronger than men twice my size... I don't need to be saved by some lowly peasant man._

I nodded.

"Good." He muttered. "I know this is going to go against my previous rule but... My Mother and I run a refuge over around the corner for kids just passing through. My name is Tsuyoi. You...need a place to stay tonight?"

_I'm not a little boy or a child. I'm capable of bringing this entire town to ruins by myself and I haven't even come of age! I'm...I'm...I'm..._

"Yes, please." I told him.

He nodded and motioned to me.

"Well, come on then."

Something suddenly occurred to me.

"But I have a friend. He travels with me."

He turned to me.

"Brown haired kid? Kind of excited and jumpy?"

_Yeah, that's him..._

I nodded.

"He was the one who sent me this way, telling me his friend wandered off. You should thank him or... I don't know what would've happened to you."

And like he said, Hashirama was standing there in front of a stone, castle like structure all the way at the back of the town but what I didn't expect was the girl standing next to him. Fully clothed, her eyes widened just like they had before as she set eyes on me. And Hashirama was struggling not to fall to the ground laughing.

_You damned one-track minded jerk, _of course_, the first thing you'd do is go look for her..._

The ring that lay so delicately in my pocket felt like it grown to a hundred pounds.

Up Next: While dealing with problems big and small, ranging from ninjas tearing up civilian lands, how to help people without exposing their identity as ninja, and the complex issue of war itself and how to stop it for good, Hashirama and Madara begin to tackle a completely confounding species named...girls.


	3. Chapter 3

Hashirama

We lived at the young man's castle for almost a full week even though he claimed the arrangements would be temporary. He never asked us for any kind of compensation except to do chores to help keep the castle clean and not to mess anything up. Other than the girl we saw at the hot spring, there were five other children there, three little boys and two little girls. None of them seemed to be a day over five years old. They all came from destroyed villages like the others we had seen. When we weren't doing chores, we all played regular town-kid games together which were way more fun than any ninja-kid games I'd ever played.

"The kids around here are really care-free." I pointed out. "Despite their situations."

"Yeah, it makes you want to stay here forever." Madara said.

It was subtle but the underlining was there like a blaring sign to the both of us.

_What if we just never go back?_

The girl that Madara had seen naked became fast friends with us almost immediately. Our first night in the castle, she chose to sleep in the room all the way up at the highest part of the tower with us instead of in the basement where the girls slept. It was clear that she wanted something from us. Her first question, quite plausibly, was how Madara ended up face first in that hot spring if he wasn't spying.

"He tripped and rolled down the hill." I told her as we ascended the stairs to the highest tower. "He's really clumsy."

Madara hung back, saying nothing. She turned around and smiled at him.

"It's okay." She said. "With the way you acted, I kind of felt like it might've been a big misunderstanding. Any normal boy would've tried to pull something with me but you looked like you'd seen a ghost!"

"I _am_ normal." He mumbled, looking at the floor.

"I didn't say you weren't." she replied, then she stuck her hand out. "Anyway, I'm Mito. What's your name?"

He paused, staring at her for a long time and then continued up the stairs, pushing past her.

"None of _your_ business." He muttered.

She stared at his back with a quizzical expression and then looked at me.

"He's Madara." I told her, then I shrugged. "Don't take it personally, he's has this brain disorder that causes him to be an asshole at random times."

"Shut up, Hashi!" he yelled from further up the staircase.

"So, do you live here?" I asked as we continued.

She shook her head.

"I'm like you guys, just sticking around here so that the perverts don't get a hold of me."

"Perverts?" I asked, then I looked over at Madara, who was tugging at one of the mats on the floor.

"The guy said it, didn't he?" Mito asked. "That he found some guy trying to force himself on Madara?"

Madara lifted his head up, glaring at her.

"That's not even what happened!" he exclaimed. "Butt out!"

She shrugged.

"Well, that's the reason why I trusted you. Because I realized, you're just a kid. Just like us."

He frowned.

"I'm not a child..." he muttered almost inaudibly.

"How old are you guys anyway?"

"I'm twelve." I said jabbing my chest with my thumb, then I pointed. "And Mada's eleven."

"Almost twelve!" He interjected.

"I'm almost thirteen." She said, smiling. "I'm more of an adult than you guys."

"Children!" a feminine voice called, traveling up the stairs. "Settle down now."

Mito put her finger to her lips.

"These old guys go to bed _so_ early." She said, rolling her eyes.

"Ugh... How boring." I mumbled.

We pulled our mats near Madara's so that our positions formed a kind of triangle and lay down. Madara turned, facing me, and closed his eyes. I stuck my hand into his dark, thick hair and rubbed his scalp. He opened one of his eyes and flicked my hand.

"Did you guys come from one of the burned down villages?"

I looked over at the candle flickering in the corner of the room casting shadows all over the place. Thunder boomed outside.

_Did the storms reach here, too?_

"No." I told her. "We're just...traveling."

"Traveling, huh?" she asked. "But...wouldn't that be too dangerous?"

Then she lifted her head and peered at both of us through the dim candle light.

"Unless...you're running from something."

The thunder boomed louder, shaking our quiet hovel. I could hear the rain beginning to pour.

"Stop trying to pretend like you understand us." Madara grumbled.

"Sorry!" she said quickly. "You don't have to be so mad all the time..."

I snickered.

"Well, I'd be a bit angry, too, if some random guy just tried to touch my-"

"SHUT- UP, HASHI!" He shouted, sitting up momentarily.

I raised my hands in surrender.

"Okay! Okay!" I yelled, laughing.

I lay down, taking the spare moment to avoid responding to her accusation by pretending to go to sleep. Madara and I faced each other. For a second, he opened his eyes and put his finger to his lips. I knew he was telling me to keep the secret. Our secret. Our very vital secret about what we really were. I nodded at him curtly.

_I'm well aware that no one can know... If they did... How could we face them every day?_

The very next morning, we were surprised to discover their simplistic way of life.

"Wake-up!"

I yawned, coming face to face with her again. Mito. That day, she wore her long red hair in two pony tails on either side of her head. It was a mark of how long her hair was that the ponytails reached past her shoulders.

"We have to line up for food downstairs." She told me.

I sat up and stretched, reaching for my jacket which I'd taken off during sleep. Mito knelt down over Madara and shook his shoulders.

"Get up!"

His eyes fluttered open and he stared at her. Spending so many days with him, I was able to understand his little nuances. We woke up different. Often times, even if I wasn't having a nightmare, I woke up with a start. I also slept wildly, rolling around a lot and usually falling out of my bed. Madara slept still and woke up daintily, like he was some kind of princess. He was usually staring at a blank space for five or six minutes before he actually got himself up.

But he didn't go about his usual way at all that day. He stared at her, but only momentarily, and then he pushed her away, backing out of her grasp.

"You're acting like I have some kind of disease!" She pouted.

"Well, maybe you _do_." He retorted.

"I'll race you guys downstairs!" I declared.

Hating to miss out on a challenge, Madara jumped to his feet. We rushed down the spiral staircase, with Mito hot on our heels, and spun out into the kitchen. The other kids were there standing against the wall. It wasn't until then that I realized how thin and frail-looking they were. Like they hadn't eaten a good meal a day in their lives.

"Stand against the wall." Said a weary old, dark-skinned woman holding a large bowl.

All three of us got into position next to the other kids and picked up smaller wooden bowls. She walked along the line, taking one scoop of food out of the bowl and slopping it down into our bowls, when she got to me, I had to physically retrain myself from wrinkling my nose.

_This stuff smells like throw up..._

But the other kids bent down over their bowls and began scooping the thick, gray glop into their mouths immediately without a spare second. Mito stared at the food for a second longer and then, resigning to hunger, complied. Madara and I exchanged glances. I pretended to faint, making him crack a smile, but then we too began to eat. It tasted just the same way it smelled and it took a lot to keep it down but I found that when it was eaten, it filled me.

_It's clear that most people in the surrounding areas are malnourished... How is it even possible for them to survive this way?_

I didn't ponder that for much longer that day because then we were allowed to go out and play tag. Slowly but surely, over our course of time there, we began to get used to the sloppy meals and the lack of meat. We fell into a kind of rhythm and that question kept becoming more and more apparent to me.

_What if we just _never_ go back? _

One day, when we were all playing hide and seek, something different happened.

"I know the best hiding spot!" Mito whispered to me as, Kita and Lugen, two twins with large, brown soulful eyes, began counting to one hundred.

Mada rolled his eyes, often choosing to do the opposite of whatever Mito wanted to do, and ran in the opposite direction. Mito grasped my hand and pulled me all the way around the side of the house. I looked up at the time, realizing for the first time that, the dark, threatening clouds that covered the war areas were moving, overcoming us. I remember wondering when it would begin raining there, too. Mito stopped suddenly and pointed to a bed of roses behind the well all the way at the furthest part of the castle grounds. The well was on a hill overlooking much of the village.

"These pretty flowers match with my hair." She said, lying down face first and pulling her hair out of the pigtails so that it all covered her like a dark red sheet. "See? Now I blend in!"

"Yeah, but how am I going to blend in?"

She gave me an inquiring look.

"Can you get inside the well and hang onto the sides?"

I glanced at it and nodded without a second thought.

"Even though Kita and Lugen are kind of young, they're really fast." I said. "I can hang on for five minutes or whatever until they show up."

I jumped up, standing on the edge of the well but before I was going to get inside, something caught my attention. I turned, grabbing one of the strongholds of the well for support against the wind and looking downhill, at the barren, depressing town.

"Who... Are those people?" I asked.

Mito had been lying face down, when I spoke she brushed her hair out of her face and stood next to me. The thunder clouds increased, blowing over us. Mito began trembling but, somehow, I didn't think it had to do with the breezes.

"It's them." She said, grabbing my pant leg. "They're going to take from us again."

I jumped down from the well and looked at her seriously.

"Who?" I asked.

"The ninja." She replied softly. "Or more specifically... The Hagoromo clan."

My eyes narrowed instinctively.

_Right..._ Those_ people. _

At that time, the Hagoromo clan was against the Senju and had been siding with the Uchiha's on many disputes for about a year, but that meant nothing. They often hopped back and forth between the Senju and the Uchihas, pulling strings and stealing confidential information from one clan and selling it to the other just to fuel the hatred and rivalry between them. It suited their needs to make sure we never became allied.

Mito's hand tightened on mine. I watched them moving up the hill and toward the castle with my fist balling involuntarily.

"Tsuyoi-san always tries to keep the best for us, since there are many of us, but they always come and take everything..." Mito went on. "But that's like _all_ ninja... The reason this town is so empty and sorrowful is because they come through all the time and take more than enough."

She looked at me then, eyes pained looking and whispered.

"Did you know that the majority of people in these times aren't dying from war casualties or accidents?" she looked down toward the barren town. "They're dying from starvation..."

I abruptly recalled the food we were served for breakfast and how thin and malnourished all the children we were sharing the castle with looked. Nothing but skin and bones.

_Those people... A clan that pretends to be anal about the belief of wellbeing for all but, behind closed doors, they're usually the ones causing all the pain and hardship just for their own sick twisted enjoyment. The tumultuous trifles that cause unnecessary clashes with the Senju and the Uchiha are often a result of their nosiness. They're instigators. _

"Come on." I said to Mito. "Let's stop them."

She shook her head so hard, I thought it might snap off.

"There's no way! If we don't obey, they'll take all of us kids and train us in the art of Ninjutsu and war and probably hurt Tsuyoi-san and his mother!" she exclaimed. "We can't!"

But I kept walking, half ignoring her. She kept up alongside me but strained to pull me back.

"Hashi..." she whispered anxiously.

I heard footsteps on my other side and realized it was Madara.

"Those ones look like..."

I nodded, already reading his mind.

"Mito confirmed it." I told him. "They steal from the people here."

We paused at the side of the house and watched as the four men confronted Tsuyoi with greedy smiles. The children who were playing hide and seek stayed hidden and Kita and Lugen hid behind Tsuyoi-san's legs.

"I have nothing to give you." We heard him declare. "As you can see here, there are already too many to feed.

"Then make room." One of the men said. "We actually have things to do, unlike you people sitting around all day on your asses like cattle!"

"Exactly! Leave the food for the ones fighting, you lazy pricks!"

Tsuyoi-san visibly bristled. I could see almost hear the grinding of his teeth.

"You wouldn't want to do anything stupid, eh?" the third one asked, then he motioned to the two twin boys hugging his knees. "Wouldn't want to die right in front of these kids."

"As if we'd let them kill him." Madara said, crossing his arms.

"Fighting isn't a good idea, Madara." Mito protested. "We have to be safe!"

Madara rolled his eyes.

"Why don't you go hide somewhere and stop speaking in the presence of men." he retorted, then he turned to me. "Are you in?"

"Yes." I told him. "But not in the way you're thinking. There's another way we could save them all."

He raised his eyebrows.

"We have to be patient." I reassured him.

I glanced at Mito to make sure she was sufficiently worried about the scene in front of her that she wasn't listening.

"And besides...we can't blow our cover right now." I whispered.

"I know that." He said, eyes still on the ninja. "But still..."

Tsuyoi-san brushed his hand through his thick, tightly curled black hair and motioned for his mother to come forward. They handed them fabrics of clothing, small bits of jewelry and whatever else they'd gathered as their "taxes" and, when the Hagoromo clansmen got a good laugh out of how poor they were, they decided to leave.

"Sometimes, I despise them." Madara said. "We should do something about this..."

"Like what?" I asked him. "Kill all of the ninja in the world?"

Lightning streaked across the sky and the other kids screamed, rushing inside. Tsuyoi picked Kita and Lugen up into his arms and carried them next to his mother. Everyone's expression was solemn and weakened.

"I was considering it." Madara muttered.

I turned to him, feeling angered by his recklessness.

"At the end of the day, ninja are people, too, Madara! Even if we got rid of every last ninja in existence, people would still fight." I reminded him. "People _always_ fight! If there's anything that I've learned for certain these twelve years I've been alive, it's that."

Madara looked at me with large, hopeless eyes. The way he looked kind of reminded me of someone innocent and babyish...like Itama.

"And here I thought you were the optimist." He said solemnly.

_We're standing idly by watching people like us torture the innocent. What's there to be optimistic about that?_

So, we were adults again in that aspect. Secretly going back and forth on ways to "save" the ninja world at night.

But during the day, we were free. And we enjoyed the lavishness of childhood by having trifling disagreements like who stepped outside of the "safe zone" during tag, and who was taller than who, and whose turn it was to wash the dishes.

For example, strangely, even though Mito recognized Madara as the boy who had seen her completely naked, she didn't hold it against him. And even stranger, he seemed to have something against _her_ instead.

"Hey, Mito, I want to show you something!" I had said one random afternoon, calling her.

She stood up from the weeds she was helping Tsuyoi-san's mother pick and ran over to me but on her way past, Madara casually turned around from pulling the clothes off of the line and stuck his foot out. She tripped hard, plowing face first into the dirt. She lifted her head and frowned at him sourly.

"Mada, quit it!" she yelled.

He held his hands up in surrender as Hikari-san, Tsuyoi-san's mother, raised her eyebrows at him sternly.

"It wasn't me." he lied, even though I saw him do it.

My budding relationship with Mito was much more positive. Her personality was very unique, unlike that of any girl I'd ever met before. Most girls in the senju clan were either loud and abrasive or blank-slated into being the "perfect wife" with no personality whatsoever. Mito was an absolute angel in every sense of the word. Her cheeriness went on for days. She was never angry or upset unless Madara picked on her and even then, she bounced back into her happy-go lucky mood within the next minute. She was gentle with the younger children, often letting piggy back on her and very helpful and generous with chores, always doing more than she needed to. If there was a name for perfect, it would be hers and as I watched her it became more and more apparent that my twelve year old vessel was in love with her. And not just because she was the first girl I'd ever seen outside of my clan, but because her personality was so very attractive.

I often just wanted her to be satisfied with me. I went out of my way to make her laugh or do things for her...

One day, using Ninjutsu, I manipulated the flower garden in front of the castle so that the bright yellow dandelions spelled out her name.

"What's the big surprise?"

"Just keep walking forward." I told her, keeping my hands clamped down on her eyes.

She giggled, raising her hands to cover mine.

"Okay, I trust you."

I walked her all the way up to it positioned her perfectly in front of it, then removed my hands. She looked down, dark eyes widening.

"Wow..." she said, smile breaking out.

I positioned my hands behind my head laxly and grinned.

"Do you like it?" I asked.

"Of course!" she exclaimed. "It's amazing! But...how did you do it?"

_I have a very, very unique kekkei genkai that allows me to manipulate all Earthly things._

"With a lot of prayer." I joked.

She gave me a 'yeah, right' look but didn't pursue it. I knelt down next to some of the white flowers and picked a handful of them. She gave me a surprised look as I slid the flowers into her hair.

"Now you look like a real angel." I said.

She blushed, face matching the color of her hair momentarily.

"You're such a sweetheart, Hashirama." She said, blessing me with a kiss on the cheek.

Near the time we would leave the castle, we had a very unforgettable conversation with her after dinner. Madara and I were walking to our regular living quarters in the highest tower when Mito caught up with us, asking if she could stay in our room like our first night.

"No." Madara said immediately.

"Sure, you can." I said at the same time.

We looked at each other and then Mito poked Madara in the back.

"You're the same guy that accidently caught me naked. Can't I have _one _little favor?"

He turned his head, trying to hide his quickly flushing cheeks.

"What do you want anyway?" he asked as we entered our tower room.

"Did you know this castle has an observation area on top of this roof?"

I turned, ears perking.

"Really?" I asked.

She ran over to a door in the corner of the room that I'd always thought was a store room or closet and opened it revealing it to hold a staircase.

"It leads up to the tower but Tsuyoi-san told us not to go up there."

I began making my way up the staircase immediately.

_All the reason to go!_

"If they told us not to go, why are we-"

"Just come on!" Mito said, grabbing Madara's hand and tugging him along.

We came upon a spacious area that was tall enough to see over most of the surrounding land. It was too dark to make anything out but I still peered over the edge of the roof squinting through the darkness.

"You can't even see anything." Madara pointed out. "Let's go back."

She tugged on his hand again.

"Hey... You're both looking the wrong way."

We both turned to her with the same confounded expressions on her face. Her arm rose and she slowly pointed upwards.

"It's an observation tower... To observe the stars."

The night was moonless but the stars went on for infinity.

"Living around so many trees, I just realized I've never seen so many stars." I said, awestruck.

Madara was silent but his eyes were wider than mine, taking in as much as he could.

We all lay down, Mito lying between the both of us, and kept watching. It was something that never got old, something that never got to be boring.

"For some reason, doing this always makes me feel better in a way." She said.

We both turned to her.

"Like, compared to everything else we're so tiny. All the war and fighting... It really means nothing from this perspective."

"As long as people are dying pointless deaths and children are homeless and parentless, it definitely means something." Madara spoke up. "You're just trying to escape reality."

"Isn't that what you're also trying to do?" she asked. "Is it wrong that I'm more open about it?"

His brow furrowed and he said nothing.

"It's alright if we're all scared." she asked, then she looked at me. "Isn't it?"

"Not so scared to the point that you can't make a change." I told her.

_Change is what we need... Not escaping... Not hiding... We need..._

"What kind of a change can stop war?" she asked.

I'd already been thinking of an idea for a while so I opened my mouth but Madara beat me to it.

"Humans are inherently paranoid people." He said. "We're competitive and aggressive and so war can only be prevented if someone stronger than everyone else rises up and forces everyone into order. That person, or country, or power can police the entire world and keep everyone in check. If they're righteous and fair, everyone will be."

"But that's very risky if we're all depending on that one source." Mito protested.

"Hashi, gets it." He said, nodding at me. "Right?"

I looked down at the space between my knees. A cool breeze came through.

_The first time you told me about that, I understood... But now, something else is coming to mind..._

"What if instead of having a world where one entity keeps all others under its thumb, we keep all entities equal?" I asked them. "That way no clan can fight each other because they won't be sure if they'll win or not. There will be a balance of power."

A visible question mark could've popped over Madara's head.

"That's not what we said before." He reminded me.

"I've been thinking of it recently." I explained. "You're right. People _are _paranoid. So they won't want to engage in a fight that they won't be certain that they can win."

"You're wrong." Madara said. "The Senju and Uchiha clans are said to be almost identical in strength but they war constantly."

Mito nodded along with him.

"That's right, their power is almost evenly balanced." She said. "And what's even worse is that in war, causalities aren't what matter, the outcome is. Relying on two evenly matched oppositions is a very serious gamble to take..."

_Right... I should know more than anyone that causalities don't stop anything. All anyone cares about is who wins._

My arms suddenly felt heavy, the same way they did after I'd carried Itama.

_But, still. I'm willing to take the gamble... We have to believe in the people, don't we?_

"Anyway, what's_ your_ plan then, if you're so clever?" Madara asked her.

"Power." Mito said. "Devastating power."

We both raised our eyebrows to her.

"My mother told me of an old fable about nine demonic tailed beasts that roam the world tearing apart any human they can find." She explained. "Well, at least everyone _thinks_ it's an old fable. There are a lot of rumors that these beasts are real and they truly exist."

"So what?" Madara asked.

"So, what if the beasts were used to keep the ninja world in check?" she asked.

Suddenly, I snapped my fingers. Catching her drift.

"If there are nine tailed beasts, each of the strongest clans could get one and we could use their fear of annihilation to stop everyone from warring!" I exclaimed. "If all the leaders are rational, and all the clans have tailed beasts, there's no way they'd fight each other with the threat of _everyone _being killed!"

Mito smiled at me, nodding.

"It helps your balance of power theory hold more weight, Hashi." She explained.

"Yeah, but that's relying on the assumption that people, and clans, are _sane _decision makers." Madara interjected. "Are you forgetting that war itself is the most insane decision imaginable? How do we know that all these leaders wouldn't be so egotistical that they would overlook the rule?"

_True... To be discouraged from war out of fear, one has to be sane enough to realize that they might lose._

"Madara's right, irrational people or clans will be excluded from that rule." She went on. "It's still a gamble."

"Perhaps if one clan is given _all_ the tailed beasts, it could be more collateral for my idea." Madara went on. "That clan could reign supreme."

"But you're forgetting that there's also the issue of human rights, Mada." I said. "If one entity is more powerful than all, there won't be anyone to check them."

"That's why_ we_ were going to do it, remember?" he said. "_We_ were going to be the most powerful because there isn't anyone more trust worthy than ourselves!"

"But what about the future generations?" Mito added. "Your children or grandchildren may not be as sensible... They could destroy the _world_."

We were all silent after that comment. Owls howled in the distance. Our debate had tired us all. We were all lying flat on our backs, watching the stars with half closed eyelids.

"But we won't give up looking for the right answer, will we?" I asked.

"No." Mito and Madara both replied in unison.

But somehow, even as I asked that question and got the reassurance, under the weight of the immense space before us, I couldn't help but ponder the possibility of finding the right answer. It was like all the stars in the sky were the trillions of answers to the question of how to end war and only _one _of those stars was the correct answer.

I slowly closed my eyes allowing the final thing in my line of sight to be the blue-black night sky with the whitish crystals twinkling among it.

_Could our answer really be so far out there?_

The next morning, we were woken up by Tsuyoi-san's ancient mother, Hikari-san, who scolded us for breaking rules.

"It was all Hashirama's fault for following that girl."

I bowed my head.

"It _was_ all my fault." I told Hikari-san. "Go ahead and punish me. I deserve it."

Madara stared at me, sitting there sulking and then sighed.

"Okay, it was my fault too..." he said.

"It was _my_ fault specifically." Mito told her.

"No, Madara's right. Punish _me_." I insisted.

Hikari-san shook her head and pointed down the stairs.

"Never you mind. Just come down for your morning meal."

When she continued down to the kitchen, leaving us in the room, I fist pumped silently and grinned, Mito high fived me and Madara allowed himself a small smile.

"Now I see how well that whole depressed thing works out for you." Madara muttered.

"Heck yeah!" I cheered.

Mito jumped behind me, throwing her arms over my shoulders.

"But you know, she could've just taken you out back and whipped you like the younger kids." She reminded me.

I snickered.

"She'd have to catch me first."

"Well, after all, it was _your_ idea. I would've just told her that so_ you_ would've gotten spanked." Madara said.

She turned around and leaned close to his face.

"Somehow, I feel like that's just because you want to see me get spanked." she smirked, eyes discerning.

He pushed past her and said nothing.

Breakfast was fast. We were given less food than everyone else, proof that we still got some kind of punishment. But half of me believed that it was also because of the very noticeable shortage in gray slop since the Hagoromo clansmen took a good amount of Hikari-san's ingredients. We probably wouldn't have been getting punished in terms of lesser food if she _had _more food to give us. As we handed our bowls to the woman to wash, I noticed Tsuyoi-san. He stood on the other side of the room, sharpening a large spear and then left through the back door.

Compelled by curiosity, I followed him out of the back door. He paused, picking up another weapon and then began walking toward the mountains. I ran up, falling into step next to him.

"Where are you going?" I questioned.

He glanced down.

"Hunting." He told me in his deep, restful voice. "It's been such a long time since we've had meat. I've been looking every day with no luck."

Madara ran up on my side and Mito came up to him on his other side.

"Maybe we can be your good luck charms." Mito said.

I ran up in front of them all and turned around.

"Yeah, check out these muscles!" I said, rolling up my sleeve and flexing for them. "I can help you out better than anyone!"

Mito laughed.

"You're so silly, Hashi!"

"I guess you three can come." He mused. "It'll be helpful for learning how to fend for yourselves later, you know..."

Suddenly, Mito cried out.

"Ow!" she exclaimed.

I looked around Tsuyoi to see Mito massaging one of her ponytails.

"Stop pulling my hair, Madara."

"I didn't even do anything!" he quickly protested.

"Madara, quit messing with her." Tsuyoi-san said, half heartedly.

"It's not my fault she's imagining things." He muttered.

I raised my eyebrows at Madara who quickly looked away from me. Strangely, a memory of one of the previous nights resurfaced to me.

"What do you think of Mito?" I had asked him.

We had been lying down on mats tossing a piece of a shirt that had been rolled up into a ball back and forth to each other.

"Nothing." He said.

"What do you mean?"

"She's a girl. What am I_ supposed_ to think of her?" he asked.

I caught the ball and held onto it.

"I don't know..." I mumbled, rolling it around in my fingers. "Maybe that she's pretty?"

"You think she's pretty?" he asked.

"Of course." I said, rolling off my back to face him. "Don't tell her but... I think she's amazing. She's like...perfect. I really, really like her. Maybe even more than just like."

"I won't tell her." he said, then he tugged on his ears. "But no one's perfect. _Especially_ not her. She's the furthest thing from it!"

He frowned animatedly as he turned to me.

"Always talking and pestering..."

"I'm convinced now." I said, smile spreading.

He raised his eyebrows at me.

"You really _don't_ like girls!"

He lunged for me, almost catching my jacket but I rolled away in time, giggling.

"Admit it, Madara!" I shouted, sitting up. "You like _guys,_ don't you?!"

"SHUT-UP!" he yelled, looking horrified.

"Maybe _that's_ why you froze up when that weird guy tried to kidnap you!" I joked.

It was a split second and the next thing I knew, my back was slammed against the stone floor of the castle tower and he sat on me with his fist two inches from my face.

"You better shut up, Hashirama." He threatened, pinning me to the ground using his right arm. "Or else I'll tell her that you were watching her bathe!"

That was the quickest I'd ever shut up in my life.

"Hey..." I said quietly. "You're just kidding, right?"

He rolled his eyes and got up off me.

"Unlike some idiots, I don't joke around."

He walked back over to the ball and picked it up, then sat down with his back facing me.

"Wait... Seriously?" I asked

A couple of deeply silent moments passed. He lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling, throwing the ball from his right hand to his left without speaking.

He suddenly threw the ball at my face. It bounced off of my forehead and rolled to the floor in front of me.

"Of course I'm not gonna tell." He said, sighing. "You're my best friend, even though I hate you..."

_Why am I thinking about that now? _

I glanced back at Madara and Mito who were walking side by side behind us. Mito tugged on his sleeve and pointed something out to him and he smirked and made some snide remark that made her frown.

_Is it perhaps because I'm thinking that maybe... Madara _does_ like Mito?_

We had entered the large canyon with tall, rocky mountains rising up over us on either side. He began walking carefully and slowly and without even registering it, Madara and I matched his stealthy pose and the light weightiness of his footsteps.

"Have you guys ever killed before?" he asked.

My heart panged. I knew he meant kill as in hunt but strangely, I couldn't get over the thoughts of real humans I did kill.

_I wonder what he'd think if he knew what I truly was._

"No." Madara responded.

"Then get behind me." he said. "There are a lot of coyotes and foxes lurking around here. I wouldn't want you to be hurt. So, stay together. I'll whistle for you later."

Tsuyoi-san inched away from us, rounding the corner and making his way up the rocky hill.

Mito held her hands out to me and Madara. I took her hand but he, as prideful as he is, ignored her.

"I've seen dead people often." Mito said, leaning against the mountain side. "But I've never seen a dead animal before... I wonder if it's similar..."

She sounded melancholy so I decided to lighten her mood.

"I just hope animals aren't filled with that gray mushy stuff we had for breakfast."

She turned, red hair swishing, smiling at me.

"I thought I was gonna collapse from disgust and they were going to have to cook _me_ for dinner!"

She began giggling.

_Hey, I'm on a roll..._

I pressed both of my hands to my chest.

"But if they did cook me, I'd let you have my heart." I told her.

She grinned.

"Awww!"

"And I'd let Madara have my brain. He _needs_ more of that!" I joked.

But he wasn't listening, instead, he was looking forward intensely. I stopped joking. There was a strange sound, one that sounded like a low whistle.

_That's the signal._

Madara hopped up, quickly scaling the mountain side and then, far above us, he seemed to scout the area for Tsuyoi.

Looking down at me, he pointed north. Mito and I ran around the corner and up the rocky crest keeping our eyes out for him. Finally, we came upon him, standing purposefully in a wide part of the valley with a bow and arrow out. His arrow was pointed directly at a large mountain wolf that glared at him, edging forward.

Mito and I neared him from the side.

"Want us to hold him down?" Madara asked from above us on the crest.

Tsuyoi shook his head.

"Hunting isn't a forceful thing, kids... It takes a lot of patience and understanding."

The wolf edged forward and he didn't move, he didn't even seem to breathe. They stared each other down, one begging the other to move but neither submitting until finally, the wolf took a step back.

"Gotcha." Tsuyoi whispered and he released the arrow which pierced straight through the wolf's eye.

He collapsed onto the ground, instantly dead. Tsuyoi got to his feet and motioned to us. We all crowded in, staring down at the motionless beast. He removed the arrow, allowing blood to flow from it onto the ground.

_Something about killing this animal doesn't feel right to me. It's so sudden. So abrupt. One minute it's there and the next... Gone. Gone forever._

Tsuyoi, noticing our solemn expressions, decided to speak.

"Life is complicated." He told us. "It seems cruel, the way we must kill to eat, destroy so as not to suffer and suffocate as though not to be suffocated."

He lifted the limp animal, tucking it under his arm.

"It might seem scary or daunting but it is the way it must be." He said.

He sighed as we walked along.

"And more importantly, I believe that when you take a life directly for your own need, it's different than taking a life out of anger or hatred or fear. Because when you take a life for the direct benefit of your own, you cherish that soul, soak in its blood, feel its pain. Killing without feeling...that is the _true_ sin."

My hand was still inserted into Mito's and I squeezed hers momentarily. The heavy, cloudy sky above us parted for a second, allowing a quick stream of sunlight to reign down on her smile.

Madara

My eyes stayed on the dead wolf tucked under Tsuyoi's arm. Drops of blood dripped in a straight line after it. I adjusted my stride to step over them. On the other side of Mito, Hashirama skipped with a bit of a bounce in his step, most likely to try to make me look at him and cheer me up. Very abruptly, Mito grasped my hand.

"What Tsuyoi-san said is making me think..." she said.

"Think about what?" Hashirama asked.

"Well, it's just that... The world _is_ a really painful place..." then she rose her eyes to the impending bursts of orange and lavender. Sunset.

"But it's also very pretty."

Hashirama and I both followed her gaze, taking in the scenic view before us. We all paused at the edge of the cliff side as Subaru-san walked, looking on. The cliff was one of the tallest ones around. From there, we could even see the beginnings of the sand desert again.

"I believe that if we concentrate more on the prettier things in life, maybe one day we can make life completely pretty!"

A couple birds swooped over us and down into the canyon below. Startled, she rose her eyes to the sky, reflecting the various colors before us and I found I couldn't take my eyes off of her. Her vibrant red hair, which she had at some point taken out of the pigtails, blew around her like a cloak.

_You're right. This world can be very...beautiful._

"Why are you watching me?" she said suddenly, turning and smiling at me.

I tore my eyes away from her and scowled.

"I was looking past you." I muttered, pulling my hand away from hers roughly.

She gave me a look. One that unsettled me. Her eyes were open very wide and her bottom lip stuck out slightly in a kind of pout. My heart began beating quickly as I glanced down, noticing the shinning piece of metal on her finger.

A memory of a couple days before that intruded my thoughts. Hashirama was sick. Hikari-san assumed it was probably because of a lack of food since the shortage and tried to give him more gray slop which he promptly refused to eat.

"I think it's all this sloppy stuff that's finally getting to me." he mumbled before quickly running to throw up.

So for that entire day, I was alone because Hikari-san was keeping Hashirama quarantined so that he didn't infect anyone else.

"Why don't you go play sock ball with the others?"

Sock ball was some stupid peasant game where one kid hides a sock somewhere in the garden and everyone else has to look for it. Incredibly boring for someone with Ninjutsu that could find it in less than five minutes. It would be even _more_ boring if I had the Sharingan to be able to find it in less than five _seconds_.

I ended up sitting on a bench staring at a garden which, peculiarly, had flowers positioned in such a way that they spelled out Mito's name. I stared at it, not completely sure why, and listened to the rumbling sky overhead.

_Why does it feel like this storm is following us everywhere we go?_

"Hi."

I turned to see Mito squatting next to the garden. She reached out and picked two flowers.

"Feeling lonely?" she asked.

I scoffed and leaned back on the bench with my arms crossed.

"If it rains, you should come in or you might get sick too." She said. "It seems like you two aren't very used to getting exposed to the elements."

"Of course, we're used to that. We're-" I quickly stopped myself, thinking fast.

She raised her eyebrows.

"We're travelers." I improvised.

She sat down on the bench next to me.

"But why do you travel so much?" she asked. "Wouldn't your mother or father be upset?"

I huffed.

"Maybe."

She smiled.

"So, you have parents?" she asked, seeming relieved.

"Of course, I do." I said, glancing at her. "Who doesn't have parents?"

I kicked at the dirt.

"Annoying old people who always try to tell you what you can and can't do... Like my stupid mother... Without ever listening to what I have to say." I muttered, kicking again.

She was silent for a while and then she laughed.

"Well, I guess if _I_ was a mother, you'd be a bit of a handful." She said, smiling.

Feeling offended, I frowned at her. She shrugged sheepishly.

"It's just that...you're always so defensive, you know?" she said. "It's like you already have an answer before someone even thinks of the question."

My father's words came back to me.

"_You have to know how to treat a woman..."_

I looked down, kicking my feet back and forth. Because of our height, our feet didn't touch the ground.

"But you should be grateful for your parents anyway." She said, getting to her feet. "You never know when something could happen..."

She picked her two flowers up off of the bench.

_Those are most likely for Hashirama. Though, I doubt any dumb flowers would make him feel better faster..._

She turned, sticking her hand out toward me. My eyebrows rose.

"Here." She said simply.

I slowly took the single flower she was offering me with a questioning look.

"Come inside before the rain, okay?" she said, before turning and trotting up the path with the other flower.

And then, for the first time, I doubted my own logic against someone else's.

_Perhaps... I _do_ assume things too quickly._

I looked down at her name written out in the flowers and made my way back to the castle. Everyone was inside by that time, making a loud ruckus, but strangely, Hikari-san wasn't yelling at anyone to quiet down. On my way to the staircase that led to the highest tower, I noticed Hikari and Mito sewing pants together with their backs to me. I would've continued walking if I hadn't heard the next sentence...

"I've noticed you've been very attached to the two new boys lately." She said. "What's going on?"

Mito scratched her head bashfully.

"Is it that noticeable?"

"Even going to the extent to sleep with them on certain occasions." She said, giving her a knowing look. "I pay attention."

Mito played with her fingers.

"I suppose you could say we're just friends..." she said. "Well, I guess that's how they both probably feel about me but..."

"But?" Hikari persisted.

_It's Hashirama. She likes him._

She looked down.

"Hashirama's such a sweetheart. He's the funniest, kindest guy I've ever met in my life. He's playful but he's also really, really smart. And he's _so_ cute."

_I knew it._

Hikari smiled at her through the bags of weariness on her face. She was such a poorly old woman, very brittle looking, but Mito's youth seemed to be giving her life.

"And the other boy, Madara I recall, is just a friend?"

_Of course I am..._

She clutched her knees, hands balling into fists.

"Hikari-san...can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, darling, anything."

"Am I a bad person if...I like two boys at the same time?"

I could feel my heart beat rising, hairs standing up on my arms. I fervently looked around making sure no one was watching me eavesdrop.

The smile stretched further upon Hikari-san's lips.

"You like Madara also?"

"Yeah..." she said, keeping her head lowered. "He might seem crude and callous and uncaring but... I know he has a heart. And for some reason, _I_ want to be the one to find it. I...want to make him happy."

She laughed.

"Oh, darling..."

Mito looked up.

"Can I ask you... are you still grieving heavily over the loss of your mother and father?"

My heart hiccupped.

_Her parents are dead?_

My mind flashed back to us sitting on the bench and me complaining about my parents.

_No wonder she seemed so relieved that I had parents... But then... Why didn't she get angry at me for being insensitive?_

She shook her head.

"Well, I do miss the ring that Mamma left me with. But overall, not so much."

_Ring? _

By reflex, I touched my pocket. It was still sitting there... Waiting... But for what? Why was I still keeping it? And even as I slowly realized I'd have to give it back to her, I began to clutch it tighter. It had always felt like some kind of very sentimental heirloom. Something precious. Was I keeping it because, in a way, I wanted to pretend that something so loved really belonged to me?

"Still lost it?" Hikari asked her.

Mito nodded.

"But I'm not too worried. I've often lost that ring and found it the most peculiar ways. Even now, though I don't have it, I feel like it's somewhere close by just waiting for me to pick it up."

My hands began to feel sweaty.

_I need to leave it somewhere. In the cupboard... On her sleeping mat... But in some kind of way that she won't suspect that someone had it all along._

"I'd say those boys are doing a heck of a lot more good than we are at making you happy." She said, patting her head kindly. "Everything is fleeting, honey. Enjoy their company as long as you can."

Mito finished sewing three pairs of matching pants for Kita, Lugen and another one of the younger boys and stood up, nodding.

"Thank you, Hikari-san"

"And also, I don't think you have to worry much about those two boys not returning your likeness."

Mito raised her eyebrows.

"The little brown haired one is always desperately trying to get your attention. He's seems to be a little _more_ than infatuated with you."

Mito giggled.

"And as for the other one, he's rather typical. Always picking on you? Calling you names? Making fun of you, right?"

Mito nodded.

"He probably likes you more than the other one!" she exclaimed.

But I wasn't listening to the end of the conversation. I was slowly backing away, trying to discreetly get out of the door. I successfully got all the way back to the garden where Mito's name was still spelled out. I got on my hands and knees trying to decide whether I should place the ring among the flowers or under the bench.

"What are you doing?"

I jumped almost a full feet in the air and spun around to see Tsuyoi leaning over my shoulder. I quickly slipped the ring back into the pocket that wasn't torn.

"Nothing." I said, standing and messing up the flowers for extra emphasis.

He sighed, looking at the disturbed flowers that no longer spelled her name.

"You know, if you like Mito, you should just go talk to her."

I kept my eyes facing downward.

"...I never said I-"

"It's a normal thing people go through." He said, fixing up his bow and arrow shooter as he spoke. "Nothing to be ashamed of."

"But I'm not-"

"It's just a little obvious." He said, pointing at the flowers I messed up. "What with the way you pick on her."

I sighed, opting to say nothing. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Mito and Hikari coming out to hang clothes on the line.

"I was actually a lot like that with Kita and Lugen's mother." He said.

I raised my eyebrows.

"You're married?" I asked.

He grinned, stretching in the skin tight dark-green mesh shirt he wore.

"Don't look it, do I?" he asked. "Well, I guess you could say I _was _married."

"Didn't work out?" I asked.

_Of course it didn't... Whoever decided women and men had to be together for life to persist was insane..._

"I guess it didn't, or more like it _couldn't_..." he said, kneeling down next to me to fix the tweed on his bow. "My wife, Kya, really loved me and the boys, you know? So much that, she was ready to do anything for us."

I turned to him, called by the graveness of his tone.

"We lived in the Land of the Lightning before. Not sure if you heard of it, but over there, we were so blind to war. Most of us had never even buried a person, let alone seen a person die right in front of us. We were pretty isolated. Completely oblivious to the hell going on in these parts." He told me. "Sooner or later, the ninja native to this land moved over there and started causing trouble. Our ninja clans squared up, tried to fight, but most of them lost miserably."

_That's insane... To think there was an entire land devoid of war before. It sounds like some kind of fable now._

"One night, when the boys were just born, a couple warring clans passed through our village. In their attempt to destroy each other, they almost set the entire village ablaze." He told me. "I'd gotten into a hunting accident the day before and couldn't walk. Kya...all alone, grabbed Kita and Lugen and got them out of the house, and on when she came back to get me, the house fell apart, burning wood fell on her."

As he spoke there were no tears. I didn't expect there to be. Men didn't cry.

"When I crawled across the scorching hot floor, reaching to try to pull her out, she stopped me. She said that, with the way the house was and the way I was injured, we would both be killed before I could save her." He said, then he shrugged. "I knew it was true. But...that doesn't stop a man from trying does it?"

I shook my head. Strangely, he broke into a smile.

"It wasn't until I heard the twins' cries from outside that I stopped. Kya looked at me and I looked at her and we knew what was most important at that point. More than all the years we shared together, more than all the love and laughter... It was those babies out there. That future." He said. "And so... I crawled out..."

He stood up and began rummaging through his pockets.

"The house collapsed immediately after that... But the twins were safe." He told me.

He pulled a small, four inch long object from his pocket along with a match. He swiftly swiped the match across the thigh of his pants, immediately blazing it, and met it to the tip of the object. Noticing my curiosity, he smiled.

"It's a cigarette." He informed me, then he handed me one. "The newest thing from the Land of the Stone. Ninja probably made it, you know? It helps calm nerves. I imagine something like this would mean life or death for them."

I lifted the cigarette to him which he promptly lit and observed it.

_Life or death is right... Ninja with calm nerves could throw shuriken straighter, dodge weapons with more ease... Amazing that those distant ninja could've already created something this useful. That makes them...a threat to us._

"Anyways, I took 'em and went for my mother, who was in a more distant part of the land, and we've been roaming ever since. Looking for a place that's innocent and ignorant like the Land of the Lightning used to be. Only...we don't think such a place exists anymore. So we crashed in this abandoned castle in this crusty old town."

I pushed the cigarette through my lips and sucked it in like I watched Tsuyoi do. I felt a slight burn in my throat and began coughing uncontrollably.

"Not too harsh, kid. Take it easy." He taught me, patting me on the back firmly.

"I'm fine." I muttered.

I breathed out, waited a moment and tried again. That time it went down easier. And the next one after that wasn't even noticeable. We were silent for a while, watching the smoke float up around us. I looked over at the man standing before me with new eyes.

_All this time, I'd seen these non-ninja as victims, helpless people who spend their entire day struggling just to catch one meal, when in fact most of them are heroes in every sense of the word. Maybe Hashirama was wrong... Maybe the world _can_ be fixed if ninja are eliminated once and for all._

He turned, seeing me staring at him and his dark brown eyes crinkled kindly.

"Sorry about telling you my whole life story." He said, dropping his finished cigarette into the grass and stomping it out. "The point is that men can't be complete without women. It's the story of life. So either you toughen up and be a man or you stay a child forever."

"I _am_ a man." I said.

"Alright, then just tell her how you feel. If you're lucky, she'll return the favor, but if not, no big deal." He said, aiming his arrow into the sky. "Because nine times out of ten, there'll be another catch waiting right around the corner."

He let his arrow go, coming into direct contact with a sparrow that swooped a bit too low. Both the bird and arrow fell heavily at his feet.

"So...Kya wasn't your first love?" I asked.

He picked the dead bird up, smiling.

"Hell no!" he exclaimed. "Just like you, I was an idiot. And it was a_ long_ time before I found someone who would put up with my dumbass."

I couldn't help but grin. He stuck his fist out and I pounded my own fist against it.

"Good luck." He said, saluting me as he turned toward the castle.

I looked over at the clothes line. Hikari headed inside and after a while, Tsuyoi headed in with her but Mito stayed outside, fixing the things on the line. The threatening storm clouds from before continued to pass over.

_I'm not a child... I'm a man._

I walked up the path, making a beeline for her.

_I'm the head of my own squad. I'm a man._

I walked up behind her.

_I'm an Uchiha. I'm a man!_

Mito turned around and smiled at me.

"Hi, Madara."

And that smile was enough to make me turn right back around, forget everything Tsuyoi-san had told me, and go back to finding a spot to hide the stupid ring once and for all...but I bore through it.

"Hi..."

She raised her eyebrows.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, it's just..." I began, then I rolled my eyes. "You were the same one telling me earlier to stay inside because of the storm but here _you_ are outside. You're brainless."

"I had to get everyone's clothes inside before the storm." She said. "They'll get wet."

"You could stop caring about everyone so much." I pointed out.

She cocked her head.

"I like helping people."

"Of course, because you're Mrs. Perfect." I remarked snidely.

A look of hurt washed over her face, one I'd never seen on her before and she curtly turned back to the clothes line.

"I never said I was perfect..." she whispered.

I paused, fingering the ring in my pocket.

"Damn it, I _know _you're not perfect... Only someone stupid like Hashirama would actually think..."

She gave me a confused look.

_This isn't going the right way at all..._

I finally just pulled it out of my pocket and held it out to her, right in the palm of my hand. She looked at it, eyes widening and then, very carefully, picked it up with her forefinger and thumb.

"My ring..." she said, seemingly breathless. "You..."

I opted for just telling the truth.

"I found it on the rock when you ran away at the spring that time." I said. "I just never got around to giving it back..."

But I couldn't even finish my sentence before she threw her arms around me and hugged me.

"Thank you so much, Madara! You don't know how much this means to me!"

As she looked up at me, I was shocked to see the tears budding in her eyes.

_You little liar... You said before that it didn't hurt you that you'd lost it but it's obvious that it terrified you... Now I see. Your imperfection is _trying_ to be perfect. You strive so much to be happy all the time and fix everyone's problems and be of help most likely because you're afraid of being a burden... But why?_

I thought of all that as I held her to my chest but all the thoughts dispersed when she looked up at me, face inches from mine. I could feel a tingling sensation budding at parts of my body that I didn't even know I had. She leaned toward me and, compelled by my awakening urges, I bent into her also but then...

"_Don't tell her but... I think she's amazing. She's...perfect. I really, really like her. Maybe even more than just like."_

_Hashirama..._

I ducked away from her, making her bump into me awkwardly. She looked startled, then slightly embarrassed. I mirrored her embarrassment.

"Sorry, I...have to go..." I said, turning around and quickly going back into the castle.

"Thanks again for the ring!" she called after me.

And ever since then, I had been in a constant battle over whether to stay loyal to my friend or stay loyal to myself... But Hashirama was like a brother to me. I'd never betray him. Still... Sometimes, I seriously contemplated it...

Mito's eyes gave me the same painful look they had when I had told her she was perfect. I looked down at the ring shimmering on her finger and then forced myself to look away.

_She's...better off with him anyway... Their personalities match each other better..._

"At least what Tsuyoi said kind of made me feel like this word is less cruel than I imagined." Hashirama spoke up as we all walked after Tsuyoi and his kill.

Everything that Tsuyoi had said were things I'd already thought of myself. But I'd always looked at the entire world from a completely wicked and cruel perspective.

_We kill and kill and kill... Each other, lesser beings, animals, whatever... We kill... And we're all evil for it._

But when he drew the distinction between sympathy for the dead versus apathy for them, it all made a bit more sense. Maybe that kind of way of thinking was why his land stayed pure for so long.

After dinner, which was way better than breakfast because of the meat we caught, we sat in the highest tower of the castle where we had slept the previous night. Hashirama was sitting on the window sill gazing at the stars. I lay down on my mat, staring up at the ceiling.

"Let's give them the money." Hashirama said.

I knew what he was talking about and I was thinking of it, too. As ninja, we don't need to hunt or fish or struggle. We hire neighboring neutral towns, like the one Tsuyoi-san and his mother lived in, to do all that work for us and send us their food for a promise that we won't destroy their town in the process of our squabbles. We rarely kept the promise, but because of fear of being killed faster, they obliged.

"I hate what we're doing to these poor lands." I spoke up. "It's the least we can do to give at least these people some compensation."

"Yeah and when we make our own village, let's make it so that instead of siphoning of the neighboring lands, ninja assist them... Like volunteers."

For once, I didn't disagree with them.

_Instead of just being a threateningly powerful military force, we can be friendly to the neighboring towns and do good deeds for them. That's a perfect idea..._

Hashirama picked up the bag of money and we made our way down the spiraling staircase.

"They'll want to know where we got this from." I said. "They're honest people. They most likely won't take it if we tell them the truth."

"We won't tell them." Hashirama proposed. "Let's just leave it in the cupboard where the lady keeps the bowls."

I paused on the staircase. He glanced up at me.

"What?"

"The Hagoromo clan..." I reminded him. "They'll just come back and take it all."

His expression turned pensive. We stared at each other, more so looking past each other into our own thoughts.

"Maybe we can leave a note telling them to leave." I said. "We'll tell them to take the money and all the younger ones and look for a place outside of the warring zones."

_Where there's still innocence and ignorance..._

He looked down at the money we had.

"Do you think they'll listen?" he asked.

"Of course." I said, walking past him on the steps. "It's free money and it's not like they don't need it."

I picked up one of the sewing needles and began stabbing into the cabinet wood to make the note.

"Yeah, you're right. At the very least, this is the best we can do." He said as he slid the bag in place inside the cabinet.

After that, we left, taking none of the money with us.

"I feel weird about not telling Mito we're leaving." Hashirama said as we came upon the outskirts of the barren town.

_Hmm... We should probably follow our footsteps and go straight back through the towns we've already hit._

"I wish I'd at least gotten to say goodbye."

_At least that way, we don't have another chance of getting side tracked before we get home._

"And also, I don't want her to think I don't like her or something."

_But the thing is... Do I really even _want_ to go back home yet?_

"But as it stands, up and leaving like this looks really rude." He went on. "I'd expect you to feel the same way. Since you like her, too. Don't you, Madara?"

_I certainly don't look any different from when I left... I can't go home yet. _

"Madara?"

"Huh?"

Hashirama rolled his eyes.

"What did I just say?"

"Something about...rude? ...I don't know." I said, slipping my hands into my pockets.

"I knew you weren't listening to me."

"Just say it again."

"Nope. Now it'll just be a mystery."

I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever it was, if it's _you_ speaking, I doubt it was important..." I muttered.

UpNext: Though the boys have good intentions with their money, it seems serious danger befalls everyone they touch... Especially once the guys that Hashirama gambled with (ahem, STOLE from) make an epic return! And after all that, visit Mito's past and discover just how imperfect she really is...


	4. Chapter 4

Hashirama

The rest of the day was pretty lax. Madara and I couldn't decide on whether we wanted to move on past the town or back toward the previous towns and just branch off into another direction. Because of another toss, which I won again, we went back toward the previous towns. We passed the hot spring and the forest where we'd seen Mito and, despite the dizzily, cloudy morning, I felt warmth spreading in my chest.

_I don't want to leave her..._

Madara didn't seem to be thinking about anything like that at all. He was absorbed in his own thoughts, allowing me to wallow in mine. I began thinking back to the conversation I had with Hisa-san.

_This field trip is supposed to be a mission but I'm treating it like a game. Madara could be a threat to the clan... Messing with me just to catch me off guard. But no one is that conniving, right? Especially not him..._

I glanced over at Madara who was walking with his hands behind his head. His white shirt billowed in the wind, keeping his chest exposed.

I snickered.

_He's mostly just a pessimist. Only harmful to himself. But still... I question my own intentions. Do I really want to know for sure if he's from that clan or not? And if I find out that he is, what will I do?_

He glanced at me.

"What?"

_Certainly I wouldn't turn against him... What I told Hisa-san is just an alibi, isn't it?_

"What?" he repeated, shoving me. "Stop staring at me."

"I was just thinking that with your chest open like that, it's no wonder you attracted perverts."

He lunged at me, almost succeeding in yanking my hair. I stumbled backwards with my dark brown locks falling into my eyes, realizing for the first time that my hair was growing longer.

"Hey, Mada. Is my hair longer?"

He was still fuming over my joke and roughly crossed his arms.

"I don't care."

"Maaaaaaadaaaaaaaaa" I whined.

He sighed and reluctantly looked over at me.

"Yeah, kind of." He said. "It's completely covering your forehead now."

He reached out and ran his hand through it.

"And it's almost reaching your shoulders."

I shook my head.

"I can't let that happen yet." I said dismally. "Only clan leaders are allowed to have hair past their shoulders."

Madara shrugged out of his white, dirt-stained shirt as we walked. Leaving his upper torso completely bare.

"That sounds like a Senju rule." He replied as he shook his shirt out.

I stiffened.

_...How did he...?_

I resolved for watching him carefully and saying nothing but he didn't pursue it, he didn't even look at me like he'd said anything weird.

_Perhaps it was just an off handed assumption?_

"Let's get some money somehow." He spoke up. "I want a new outfit."

"Realizing what I said was true, right?" I asked, elbowing him.

"Shut up." He retorted. "It's just cold... All this rain makes me want sturdier clothes."

I laughed.

"Yeah, right." I joked. "If it's so cold, why do you have your shirt off now?"

I slapped him on the back, causing a red spot to grow. He hit me back and then the rest of the journey was running back and forth, hitting each other like the initial way there. We paused at a small town that we'd initially skipped which had one very busy, and well-known, bakery. When we walked inside, more for a place to sit out of the rain than anything, the store keeper probably thought we were orphans and offered us a job for the day.

"I can pay you for one day." He said multiple times. "Just _one_ day."

"We got it!" We exclaimed in unison.

And so, just like with the fabric shop, we worked a job, selling pastries and treats to passersby. We both worked in the back of the shop, rolling dough and spreading fruit sauce for hours on end.

"It sucks that we can't eat any of this..." I said, after rolling my fiftieth ball of sweet dough. "After eating all that gray stuff, even a _piece_ of this will be heaven."

I licked my lips mischievously but Madara abruptly elbowed me.

"Don't mess up." He said, then he motioned toward his shirt which he had put back on. "I want a heavier shirt and you want a haircut, right?"

I frowned and shrugged. More hours passed with us working, periodically making jokes and messing with each other. Finally, it was close time. The owner came back and blessed us with more than enough money for what we wanted but probably not much to last us more than two or three days.

"Thank you!" I said to him as we left the back kitchen.

"Hey, are you guys still open?"

"Nah." I responded, while pulling my apron off. "We're-"

I froze.

"Hey, Hashi! You dropped some of the money!" Madara said, hopping over the counter. "And yeah, they're closed!"

"Mada." I said steadily.

"Oi, Oi... Look who it is..." the person said.

He looked up as he walked over to me and also paused. We both stood rigidly. Kakeru and Masato grinned down at us.

"It's the little bastard that robbed us." Masato said, then he tsked. "We've been busting our asses looking for you, kid."

"Me?" I asked, trying to laugh light heartedly. "What's going on friends?"

"You owe us." Said Kakeru, smiles gone.

"Right now." Masato agreed.

Madara discretely touched my palm, drawing out kanji characters...

_RUN!_

We both ran back, running toward the kitchen doors but, suddenly, someone else walked out through them.

"I was listening outside." He said, cracking his knuckles. "Thought I'd hold off the back door entrance."

_Shit... It's that shaved haired guy from before, too!_

All three of them surrounded us. I faced Kakeru and Masato and Madara faced the bigger one. Our backs pressed together.

"Getting out is first priority." I whispered.

"I know." He whispered back.

"Saying your prayers?" Kakeru asked, cocking his head.

He and Masato pulled two knives out of their pockets.

"Now..." they said. "Come with us, kid, or your friend there'll get it, yeah?"

I glared at them. They edged toward me.

"You wouldn't want him to get stabbed would ya? There's no medical tents this far away from the frontlines, remember?"

I could feel Madara's breathing rate jump rapidly. It might've been my connection to the wooden floor and the trees and dirt growing about underneath it but I could feel him very clearly.

"Ahhh..." I heard the larger one say. "You remember this, don't you?"

Madara tensed. I wanted to turn but I knew who I needed to keep my eyes on. I concentrated on the ground, using the cracks in the wooden floor to my advantage.

"Where did you get that?" Madara retorted.

"I think you know where..." the shaved man said behind me. "I also think you know what happens to little kids who like to play games."

Kakeru licked his knife in front of me and winked. Masato nodded and mockingly pouted his lip.

"Poor babies... Well, the shitheads are with their Mommies in bastard heaven, now!" he remarked, laughing loudly.

I took that moment of distraction to dart at him. I felt Madara darting for the other one simultaneously. I used my forearm to hit Masato in his wrist, causing his knife to fly out and onto the wooden floor. Kakeru came at me immediately with the other knife but at that time, I brought my knee straight up into Masato's crotch, causing him to instinctively double over. Kakeru lunged at me but Masato bent into the way.

"Ah!" Masato exclaimed as he fell to his knees. "Watch it you idiot!"

As Kakeru stared at Masato in surprise, I stepped toward him and swept my right leg under his left foot causing him to take a step back to avoid tripping. When he looked down, to step back, I quickly kicked his hand, knocking his knife across the floor toward where Madara was holding his ground against the bigger guy. And at that point, he was exactly where I wanted him so I stopped pursuing him and, instead, slid behind Masato before he could get up and wrapped my arms around his neck, forcing him into a headlock. Masato bucked against me, trying to roll me over and kick and hit at me but my small stature compared to his worked in my favor. I had his arms up, over my head so he couldn't grab me and his legs were too long to kick me. He was flapping around the floor like a fish, struggling to breathe.

Kakeru stared at me as I lay on my back, slowly forcing Masato into submission.

"You won't be able to put him out before I run and get his knife." He said, motioning to Masato's knife next to me.

With one arm still around Masato's neck, I reached for him, outstretching my hand. Thinking I was reaching for the knife, he darted, exactly like I wanted him to and stepped onto the plank I had dislodged by disturbing the wood properties in the floor. The floor snapped, bringing him knee deep down into the floor and then I felt out the chakra, winding a tree root tightly around his leg. Feeling it, he squealed and struggled to get up out of the hole in the floor but it was no use and by that time, I had successfully made Masato unconscious.

I looked over at Madara who hadn't moved the entire time I'd fought. He and the large man were sizing each other up. But the closer I looked I noticed he was edging back very slowly and steadily...toward Kakeru's knife that I had knocked away.

"You two are idiots." He said smirking. "You're better off dying now anyway and you don't even realize it."

Like I suspected, what he'd been holding earlier, taunting Madara with, was a brown satchel... The same one I'd taken from them previously, filled with their money, and then given to those orphaned children. But if they'd gotten the empty bag back, then that meant... Those kids... The kids we were trying to help... I shook my head, opting to save my depression for later.

_Keep on sliding Madara... Slow... Slow..._

"I never told anyone this but I was ninja born." The shaved headed man said.

Madara froze.

_No! Stop listening to him, keep going!_

I began to try to make preparations in the circumstance Madara failed. But the issue was, I was only experienced at moving one tree root at a time. I couldn't keep the one tightly around Kakeru who was still muttering curse words and hopping up and down and attack the other man with another one. I pushed Masato off of me and knelt up.

_I'll have to charge him and then we'll run._

"What clan?" Madara asked. "If you truly are."

The large burly man crossed his arms and grinned, tilting his head backwards.

"We have no name... We're simply known as 'The Accursed'."

My eyes widened.

_That _clan?

"Oh, don't you two worry." He said locking his bright red eyes on us. "I was ninja born but, strangely, I didn't acquire the traits of that clan and was banished."

He rolled his neck around.

"Nope. It's my brothers you've got to worry about." He said. "You see, they're coming from our clan's location just past the rocky wolf mountains and once they get past those wrecked towns out there, they'll be around here."

He smirked at us.

"So, unless you want to be torn limb from limb, I suggest-"

After hearing that, Madara stopped sliding backwards and simply turned, kicked the knife up, caught it in his hand and jabbed with it.

_Just like him to have to fight with such an ostentatious style..._

The man expelled an ear-splitting, hair-raising scream as the knife pierced his thigh and stuck about four inches deep in. Madara kept his hand on the knife, keeping the pressure as he screamed.

"What direction are they coming from?" he asked him.

"AGHHHH!"

"WHAT DIRECTION!?" Madara shouted.

I'd never seen him look so angry before.

"The north!" the man shouted. "The northern mountains!"

Madara dropped his knee into his stomach and then kicked him across the side of the head.

"And that's for thinking some half-bred, bastard of a cursed clan could even _think_ to raise a candle to me!" he shouted.

He ran past me and I followed quickly, dodging Kakeru's flailing hands which were begging me not to leave.

Someone pulled the door open but Madara didn't stop to find out who it was, he shoved it back and burst into a run, down the crowded nighttime path of the small town. I paused momentarily to get a good look at who had opened the door.

_Nanamba?_

His eyes were wide, white hair swishing in his face, but I had no time to address him. I sprinted after Madara, struggling to catch up to him but when I finally did, we were far out of the town, going back the way we'd come that morning.

"What are you doing!?" I managed to yell.

"The northern mountains." He called back, swinging from tree limb to tree limb. "That's-"

Mito's face flashed in front of my eyes.

"Shit! Where the castle sits! I almost forgot!" I exclaimed.

My legs picked up then and my heart was racing.

_Mito..._

We jumped through the trees, launching ourselves in and out of the branches trying as hard as we could to make it all the way back up and through the hill. It felt like it was taking centuries longer to get up than it took us to get down. The forest became dark and closed in feeling. The trees surrounding us looked almost black in color. Thunder rumbled overhead.

_Please let them all have left with the money already... Please..._

There were wild howls out there. Out... Out there... Somewhere...

There was something wet on my face, something like...

_Oh, right. These? These are tears..._

And soot from the fire mixed in with them making my cheeks burn.

_We were too late..._

The entire barren village was up in flames. That accursed clan had definitely come through here. That insane murderous clan. They destroyed everything in their path and broke more than enough candle holder lampposts on the path sides to start the fire. The entire town seemed even emptier than usual. There was nothing but the sound of crisp burning fire and a very present wisp of burning flesh.

The howls sounded again.

Those murderers are out there celebrating their craziness... They're the equivalent to monsters in the ninja world. Cold blooded killers. And the next day, they don't even remember who they've all killed.

Madara and I stood at the edge of the castle. It was ripped to shreds. The highest tower, the one we'd slept in and observed the stars on top of, was smashed into the rest of the castle creating gargantuan cracks that ran down the rest of the stone. It was completely dark there. Nothing to help us see except for the ominous light from the flames burning the town below us.

"They could have left already." I whispered.

My eyes were closed. I was pressing my fingers against my eyelids trying to rub the smoke and soot out that were causing my eyes to tear up. Madara shook his head and pointed.

"The clothesline is still..."

It would've been Mito's turn to dry the clothes that day. Their presence meant...

I shook my head.

_No, no, no... I know she's fine. I know she's okay. She's... She's..._

"Right!" I said, eyes popping back open.

I held my depression back for the hope on one last gamble.

"Mito likes to hide!" I said. "I know where she is! She's hiding! She has to be!"

I darted from the bottom of the hill up it and around the side of the house. I ran as quickly as I could hopping over large holes in the grass that weren't there that morning and running around clumps of kitchen supplies that had burst out of the side of the castle when it collapsed until I got all the way to the well at the top of the hill.

"GURRAAAAAARGH!"

I looked up as a straggler from the clan was still surveying the area. His eyes locked on me and he roared, jumping into the air and up toward me. I didn't even stop running. Using a lone kunai knife on the ground by my feet, I dropped to my knees and slid about three feet in the dirt. He overcame me and I slid under him, slashing upwards across his chest simultaneously and jumped back to my feet as he fell to the ground behind me.

"Mito!" I shouted.

I kept running even though the roses didn't move.

"Mito!" I called again.

I stopped next to the roses, trampling them, picking at them but feeling no sign of her.

"Hashi?" a soft voice said.

I got to my feet and looked toward the well where I could see a pair of small pink hands, turning white, most likely at having been holding on so long, on the edge of the well wall.

I peered down into the darkness and felt the shock of relief coursing through my veins as my eyes adjusted to take in the locks of bright red hair. I gripped her around the torso and pulled her up. She immediately fell into my arms and began sobbing with tears.

"Hashi...Hashi... I was so scared." She whimpered.

I found that I couldn't speak. I was so relieved, words couldn't be formed in my mouth. I stared her in the eyes, realizing that more than anything, I was just grateful to be able to see the blood running through her cheeks and hands. She was alive. She was okay.

I touched her cheek tenderly feeling the warmth there and reflection of the flames from the burning town in her eyes. Her lips were full and damp and I couldn't help licking my own lips at the sight of them. She held close to me, shaking slightly still, and I dropped my lips to her cheek and kissed her.

"I'll stay with you forever, Mito." I whispered in her ear. "I promise. Forever."

She nodded, hair brushing against my cheek, and then looked up at me and leaned forward, blessing me with the feeling of her round, pink lips on mine.

Suddenly, breaking us out of our romantic illusion, I heard a jarring sound behind me. We both turned to see Madara shaking the person I had slashed. He was quickly going back from his crazy, hard-skinned scaled form into a human form and Madara stopped, seeing that he was just a boy around our age. Mito and I made our way over to him as he breathed heavily. I had cut him deeply with the kunai knife. He bled heavily into the grass and his eyes fluttered about in a confused way.

"I'll ask you again." Madara said. "What happened to the people here?"

The boy's eyes blinked at him weakly. It bothered me to look at him. Even though he was looking, there was nothing there, nothing in his eyes.

"Kill...me..." he whispered.

"Where are they?" Madara asked.

"Just...kill...me..."

Madara picked up the knife I had dropped and held it toward his neck threateningly.

"Don't ask for something you don't truly want."

But the boy did want it, though he was bleeding and half disoriented, he cried.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." he said over and over. "Just...kill me."

Madara sighed and stood up.

"These curse marks..." He said, fist tightening around the knife. "They all turn into crazy monsters like these at random times and go on rampages, taking down entire villages and towns by themselves and then... At the end of it all..."

_At the end, they say they're sorry... And make you believe it._

He dropped the knife into the boy's hand.

"Kill yourself." He said and then he turned and walked off.

I followed closely behind him and pulled Mito but she stopped.

"Mito, come on." I said.

She shook her head and bent her arm toward the boy's mouth.

"Bite me." she said.

I cocked my head. Madara paused and looked over his shoulder. The boy, looking similarly as confused, bit down on her and, as though like magic, the wound I had inflicted on him closed up and he sat up, perfectly okay.

"Are you alright?" she asked, checking his chest.

He nodded slowly, looking at her like she was the strangest thing he'd ever seen in his life.

"I can hear your clan howling." She said, motioning down the hill. "They're probably waiting for you. Go to them."

The boy slowly got to his feet. When he did, it was clear that he was several feet shorter than us, probably no older than nine years old. He stood next to her, still whimpering with tears.

"I'm sorry." He said again. "I'm so, so sorry."

"Go." Was all she said.

He nodded and turned, running down the hill. His shirt was nothing more than tatters and he was barefoot but he continued running and we stood on the hill, watching him run until he was out of sight.

I looked at Mito, who shook her arm which hadn't even been affected by the bite mark on it and suddenly, everything about her made perfect sense to me.

_She's..._

She turned toward Madara and I and bowed her head.

"I wasn't able to save them from the rampage." She told us.

She told us the entire story, from beginning to end, how they were all discussing whether or not to leave with the money like Madara's note instructed when it sounded like something had exploded in the highest tower room of the house.

"Hikari-san and Tsuyoi-san thought you both had died." She said. "There was nothing left of the room, but I had a feeling that you left... And... Left this money in your wake, right?"

We nodded.

Tsuyoi went outside with his weapons to try to decipher the intruder and they heard him starting to fight. She said they heard him yelling for them all to run and then it was silent for a long time...except for the howls. Hikari-san believed it was too dangerous to run outside of the castle. She thought the fortress was strong enough to protect them, so she tried to hide everyone in the cupboards and cabinets of the house but there wasn't enough space for her. She was standing next to the wall, trying to get everyone to stay quiet, when suddenly they burst through that side, blasting a hole into the kitchen. The entire wall collapsed, crushing Hikari-san, who Mito believes probably died on impact. The hole they blasted destroyed the cabinet Mito was hiding in, giving her a straight shot to pull herself out of the rubble and crawl through the hole but with the way the wall fell into the kitchen, everyone else was still trapped inside.

She didn't have to describe what happened next in detail. We could both pretty much grasp the decision she made, and how everything had happened.

_She probably...ran from that castle and hid inside the well, listening to the little toddlers' screams cease one by one as they were all found and murdered. _

"All the kids are..." she whispered, voice cracking. "And it's all because I...I..."

Madara suddenly stood up. He walked back toward the house and inside. There was a bit of rustling inside, and then he pulled out a body. And he went in again and pulled out another. I got to my feet, too, and went after him. One after the other after the other. The last two bodies, Mito got up and pulled them out...Kita and Lugen, the infamous, identical brown skinned twins that I later discovered were actually biological children of Tsuyoi's.

Tsuyoi-san's body was in tatters around the side of the castle and we all had to work together, Madara and I holding up the wall, and Mito pulling out, to get Hikari-san's body.

To the tune of the softly rumbling sky, we dug holes, with the assistance of lone kunai knives but mostly with our bare hands. Mito couldn't stop crying. Madara stopped about halfway through and pulled something I didn't recognize out of Tsuyoi-san's pocket, after rolling the small box around in his palm for a while, he got up. I watched him standing there alone near the cliff side gripping his stomach until he fell to his knees in the grass. I couldn't see what he was doing but the consequent sounds and the shaking of his body gave me a clear idea.

The bodies were grotesque, like chunks of flesh had literally been ripped off. As Madara compulsively vomited and Mito relentlessly cried, I alone worked on the rest of the bodies. My eyes were open but I didn't see the individual faces, the individual bodies. Everyone's face looked like Itama to me and my forearms felt heavy, like they were bearing weight. At some point, I started having involuntary tremors. But I ignored it. When my fingers couldn't grasp anymore, I beat them against the earth until they stopped shaking and worked again. When it was completely done, the sun was rising.

I found myself getting to my feet, walking, until I was standing on the edge of the hill next to Madara. He was rolling up the sleeves of his white shirt that was so heavily stained in dirt and blood, it barely looked white anymore. His eyes... I avoided them. I was worried I'd find detachedness or even worse...tears.

"We're going to fix this."

"What are you talking about?" He retorted.

His voice was snappy, I could already tell he was beyond anything I could say but I kept going.

"Remember, that's what the village we're going to create is for." I told him.

"Are you blind, Hashirama?"

I said nothing.

"How the hell are we going to create a village as a solution when _we _are the ones that's the problem?" he asked me.

I lowered my head.

"We're the enemies here... People like us... We're all...murders. Just blood thirsty, malicious, murderers."

"Look, Mada, you know as well as I do that-"

"That what?!" he asked, finally turning to look at me.

Instead of finding the sadness or separation I feared all I saw was anger.

"Are you going to tell me some bullshit that ninja are necessary in the world to create peace and that just because some of us are bad doesn't mean we all are?! Give me a break, Hashi. Give me a _fucking_ break!" he shouted at me. "Those guys that destroyed this town could've been my clan or yours, and you _know _that! Our existence is evil in itself. We... People like us... Shouldn't even exist!"

I glanced at Mito who had looked up, startled by his outburst. I grabbed his arm.

"I get what you mean, okay?" I said. "Just relax."

He pulled his arm away from mine.

"I'm not going to give up until we live in a world where there's peace." He said. "I mean _true_ peace. Not peace created by people like us... People who have been murderers since they were four years old. I mean... A world where there doesn't have to pain...or shadows."

And in that way, Madara was even more idealistic than I was... Because even though I could identify with him and feel his pain. I knew. I knew better than I knew my own name that that was impossible. Pain, and shadows, and grief and death... Those things... Not only were they apart of life. They were necessary for life to grow... Move on... Persist. And destroying them...would be similar to destroying _everything_.

But I didn't explain that to him. Instead, I reached for his hand again and gripped it.

"No one likes killing people." I told him. "_Especially_ not people like us..."

I thought back to what Tsuyoi-san said.

"But, unlike them, Mada, when we kill or see death, we empathize with them, soak in their blood... Killing without feeling... That's the _true_ sin, right?"

He slowly turned and looked at me. The sky was clearer than it had been in weeks. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky. The morning sun just began to get over the rocky wolf mountains and beamed out at us, shimmering into Madara's eyes.

"Because of that, even though we're ninja... You and I... We're different from them." I whispered to him. "We're not their kind of people."

The morning air was crisp, edging on chilly. Madara looked down at his hand in mine and slowly nodded, I squeezed his hand. Mito chose that moment to come up on my left side and slide her hand into my other one. We all looked down at the burned down town below us and over to the other side of the valley with the marshy lands. Our hair waved in the wind, shinning from the bright orange and pink rays of sunrise, and I felt the presence of a new day. Inspiring...however daunting.

Madara

_Mito's a ninja. She has to be. What she did wasn't normal._

These were the thoughts that crowded my head as I got far enough away from the castle not to feel completely sick to my stomach anymore.

We spent the early morning heading southeast, trying to avoid the areas we had been to before so that we wouldn't run into anymore "vengeful gamblers" as Hashirama put it. I felt that he just needed to own up to the fact that he stole and got what was coming to him.

We crossed over a large valley that consisted of stone structures more than fifty feet tall that we had to hop across to get to the forest on the other side.

Hashirama edged a couple of steps back, to get a headstart, and then ran as fast as he could to the edge of the cliff, jumping at the last moment. Skillfully, he landed hard at the other side. Mito peeked down into the valley and shook her head.

"No way, the gap is too wide. I won't make it." She said.

"Well, then I guess you're not coming with us." I told her, backing up and preparing to run.

I ran for the cliff and swiftly and suddenly, she positioned herself in front of me.

"Wait!" she yelled.

Startled, I fell into her, pushing her backwards. She pinwheeled her arms, grasping at nothing and with a high pitched screech began falling over the side. With ninja like reflexes, I was easily able to gauge the time I had and act accordingly. I dove over the side of the crest and grabbed her hand. She grabbed onto my right hand with both of her hands.

"Guys! Hang on, I'm coming back!" I heard Hashirama call.

"No!" I managed to shout back.

_The cliff he's standing on is lower than this one, if he tries to jump back from there he'll either die or have to use Ninjutsu to live. And with this nuisance here who already suspects that we're not ordinary travelers, this could be dangerous..._

But I was beginning to slide from the edge of the cliff, my knees were bloodying, scraping across the sharp rock as I tried desperately to hold on and soon my entire torso was out over the edge. Her own fingers were slipping.

_I'm going to have to..._

I pulsated chakra through my body and down to my legs so that I could keep my knees and the tips of my toes stuck to the ground. Then, without a waste second, I knelt up on my knees, pulling her up with me and we collapsed on the side of the cliff. Breathing heavily and grasping our chests.

"Whoa. Thanks, Madara, I really would've-"

"You're so useless." I interjected, sitting up. "If you can't even get across a ridge on your own, then just go home!"

I picked at my scraped knees in irritation as she frowned.

"I would if I could." She said quietly.

I stared at her, registering the tone of her voice. I shook my head, blocking the empathetic questions that wanted to leave my lips.

"Then go somewhere else."

I stood up brushing the dirt of my shorts and backed up a bit. This time when I jumped over the gap, she didn't stop me. I landed a lot further onto the other cliff than Hashirama did. We both looked back up to Mito who backed up and jumped also. She stretched out in mid-air and, just barely, grabbed the cliff side. Hashirama rushed over to help her over the edge and they jumped up and down triumphantly.

"I did it!"

"You did it!"

"Thanks for helping me up, Hashirama, you're such a sweetheart."

He grinned and showed off his arm muscles again.

"No problem." He said.

As she walked past me, I shuffled my feet, purposely kicking loose dirt and pebbles around.

"Mada, stop kicking dirt on me."

"I wasn't even trying to kick it on you." I muttered, crossing my arms.

But as she walked in front of me, I continued dislodging and nudging rubble. It didn't matter though, because the next second, she said something that stopped us both in our tracks.

"I know the truth."

And before either of us could even react, she turned around staring us down with a steady expression.

"You're ninja."

Hashirama froze but I immediately reacted.

"What?!" I asked. "That's an empty accusation."

"No it isn't." she said, interlocking her fingers behind her back. "I have proof."

Hashirama raised my eyebrows, waiting for the petite four foot, eight inch tall girl make her case.

"I was watching you both that day when we were hunting for the wolf with Subaru, you knew to lighten your footsteps and walk a great distance from each other to catch the prey even though you said you'd never hunted before."

_True..._

"And you're both very agile and strong for regular twelve year old village boys." She pointed out. "The way Madara scaled that mountain side that day and the muscles you're always showing off, Hashirama."

Both of us tried very hard not to give each other accusing expressions.

_That's also true..._

"And despite the fact that you're supposed to be homeless like everyone else, it's clear that you'd rather travel alone than stay in a group." She said. "It's like you think you're invincible."

_Because we are..._

"No, we're not!" Hashirama spoke up. "What about Madara's close call? He was about to get-"

"Can we just forget about that?" I quickly interjected.

"I was held up on that, too." She said, visibly pondering it. "And now seeing Madara's personality, it really doesn't make sense that he'd fall into that kind of trap... But then it all started making sense when Hashirama got sick last week."

We both raised our eyebrows.

"You're inexperienced with the dangers of a regular town child because you're _not_ regular town children, you're ninja." She said. "A regular town boy would know immediately what to do in that situation, run and yell. But a ninja boy, who is only acclimated with the skills to kill and not avoid, would be completely lost. It actually makes perfect sense that he would freeze up."

I cringed hearing the phrase "freeze up".

"I didn't freeze... I wasn't even in any danger..." I muttered indistinctly.

"The same goes for your sickness, Hashirama." She said. "Any real travelers would've been used to eating crappy food like that but it made you sick. And also, unlike the rest of us, both of you are very healthy and well nourished looking. It means you normally eat very well, right?"

"That's all circumstantial." Hashirama protested. "It's not like you caught us performing any kind of Ninjutsu."

She frowned.

"Well... Actually, I did but..." then she shook her head. "Fine, I'll explain."

She pointed to the cliff we had all just jumped from.

"Earlier, I pretended to accidently fall off that cliff because I wanted Madara to save me." she said. "I did this because I was almost 85% sure that he was a ninja and would use some kind of Ninjutsu to save me."

I crossed my arms.

"How did you know I would save you?" I asked.

She gave me a knowing smile which made me reconsider my question.

"Well... I guess there was no way I could've known for sure." She said. "But I bet on the fact that if you had the opportunity to save my life, you wouldn't just let me die."

_Of course... You think you have me all figured out, don't you?_

She grinned at me.

"That's why I got in your way."

I looked at her carefully. All fun and games were out of the window. If everything that she was saying was true, she was way too intelligent to be a regular town girl. She was...

"And then, over here, I pretended not to be able to get up the cliff so that you would help me up, Hashirama."

"What were you doing? Just gauging our strength?" I asked. "That's not concrete-"

She held her hand out, palm up.

"I sensed the chakra you were both using to save me." she said. "Madara, you were pressing the chakra in your legs to the surface of the rock and Hashirama, you were using chakra to hold your chest to the ground."

She shrugged, throwing her hands behind her back again.

"The reason I was holding your hands when we hunted that day was because I was trying to sense your chakra out then. But the problem was that you weren't flexing your chakra at that time because there was no danger, so I couldn't sense it. So, I had to try it again this time around."

Hashirama frowned.

"I thought you were holding my hand because you liked me." He said, pouting.

Behind his back, he quickly motioned to me. That signal means...

_Cover me._

"Aw" she said, ruffling his hair.

_Yes... Stay off guard._

"Of course I like you, but I just-"

She stopped herself, a pensive expression crossed her face and she suddenly jumped into the air.

"Shit." I cursed.

The tree root Hashirama had been sliding across the ground, trying to use to restrain her extended but she had already jumped out of reach. I ran at Hashirama, jumping onto his back, off of it, and then at her. I grabbed her, bringing her down and tackling her to the ground. I lifted my hand and balled it into a fist, plunging it down at her face. She quickly moved her head to the left, dodging my blow.

"Madara!" she exclaimed, eyes wide. "You were really trying to hit me!?"

She suddenly bucked me off of her, rolling over and pinning me into the dirt. She cocked her fist far back and, in the sunlight, I could see the ring glittering on her finger, reflecting colors like a rainbow. Her fist plunged down, I was going to let her hit me but something, perhaps the pressure in the air, raised my suspicion and forced me to jerk my head to the right just at the last moment.

A five inch crater appeared where my head should've been. Her arm was almost elbow deep in the hole and...I...I couldn't even move. She jerked back and forth as she straddled me, trying to pull her fist out.

_She's strong!_

"You're...so...lucky...Madara!" she yelled as she struggled. "That would've been your life!"

I found that my heart was pumping wildly in my chests...and not because of fear. Her red hair fell over me, ticking my face as she continued to struggle.

_She's..._really_ strong..._

"I'll hit _any_ guy that tries to hit a girl!" she said to me, eyes glaring into mine.

Her face was barely an inch away from mine. I felt heat rushing to my cheeks and...other parts of my body.

_This is making me feel..._

"You idiot." I said, looking away from her. "I wasn't actually going to hit you."

She immediately stopped moving.

"You weren't?" she asked.

"Of course not. If I wanted to hit you, I would've hit you." I explained, still keeping my eyes locked on the ground next to me. "We were just testing you."

She relaxed then and that easy going smile that she normally had reappeared.

"Oh! Okay, then." She said, finally succeeding in pulling her fist out of the crater.

Hashirama stood next to us and grinned.

"You lose." He said, thumbing her down.

"You guys shouldn't have tried to ambush me before giving me time to talk." She said, pulling herself off of me.

"Doesn't matter." He said. "I proved it. You're a ninja, too."

"So, you admit that you two are ninja?" she asked, eyes flicking between us both.

"Not unless you admit that you're one!"

They stared at each other with hard, steady expressions and then, abruptly, they both burst into laughter.

"I can't keep a straight face." Mito said, laughing so hard she had to hold her sides.

"Yeah, me either!" Hashirama agreed.

They both stood up and then Mito shrugged.

"Okay, okay, we're all ninja. So what now?"

Hashirama smirked at me.

"First, we have to get Madara up off the ground. I think he's star struck."

My face exploded into a deep shade of red and I quickly got to my feet. The truth was I was thinking about her clan. If there was anything I was "star struck" by it was her power. She had to be harnessing an unbelievable amount of chakra to be able to direct it toward a single body part and hold it there for such a strong attack. A power like that was only recognized by the Senju clan.

_Is she a Senju?_

Hashirama and Mito continued walking ahead of me, cracking jokes and grinning.

"Sorry about attacking you." He said. "But you had no problem showing us up, you must be really skilled."

She shrugged, looking off into the distance.

"I guess..." then she smiled. "But you're much better! I didn't know you could manipulate plants! No wonder you could spell my name out in the garden, you sly devil."

"You're the sly one." He said. "You're very perceptive... Watching us this entire time, taking tabs on everything we do."

"Well, you we're both very unusual for town boys. It was obvious that you were hiding something...and then that first night we spent on the roof, I _knew_ you both had to be ninja. There's no way normal boys would understand war the way you two do."

He grinned.

"Well, you understand it pretty well yourself." He said. "You're really smart."

She nodded.

"Well, I've experienced a lot of it..."

"I heard from Madara you don't have any parents." Hashirama spoke up.

Mito raised her eyebrows and turned as we walked, looking back at me.

"I don't recall telling him that."

_Crap..._

"I overheard you." I said, avoiding her gaze.

Her face turned red as she realized what conversation I'd overheard.

"Mada, you-"

"Is it true?" Hashirama asked, cutting her off.

Distracted, she turned to him.

"Well...yeah..." She confessed. "They died about a year ago. I've been wandering ever since."

He nodded.

My thoughts returned back to figuring her out.

_But she couldn't be a Senju... If she were, she would be able to manipulate some aspect of nature, right? Instead, she seems to be adept at sensing chakra and healing injuries. _

My gaze settled on the bite mark on her arm.

_Though, to spare chakra for other people's injuries, she must have a lot of it. A strong life force is also characteristic to Senju. _

As she walked, she began pulling her hair back into the side pigtails she usually wore, framing either side of her face in long, red waves.

_That's it! Red hair! Now I see... She's a..._

"You're an Uzumaki, aren't you?" Hashirama asked.

She looked at him, eyebrows rising.

We were already in the marshy lands. Our sandals sunk almost a foot into the muddy land as we walked through naturally made holes in the hillsides that acted as overpasses of some sort.

I expected her to question him or at least to deny it, but she nodded.

"Yes."

We were silent for a while.

"Don't you want to know how we figured it out?" I asked.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" she asked, pointing to her hair. "Of all the clans invested in this war, ours is the only one with long red hair, right?"

_Right..._

"That isn't how I figured it out." Hashirama said. "It's your sealing ability."

_Sealing? ...What?_

"Sealing is a key factor to the Uzumaki clan. Theirs is superior to all others in the entire land of fire."

"I didn't perform a sealing jutsu." She pointed out. "I couldn't have, anyway. I haven't mastered any yet."

"Your ring." He said, pointing. "When you punched the ground, it was glowing. It must have some kind of chakra seal on it that allows you to release enormous amounts at will, right? That's why you wear it."

"And you call _me_ perceptive?" she asked, looking shocked. "You're like genius level!"

He smiled bashfully.

_Yeah, yeah, whatever... If my clan was closer to the Uzumaki's, I could've figured that out, too..._

"But you're off a bit." She explained. "You're right... This ring and rings like them are a sign of Ninjutsu readiness. In our clan, when you're given one, that means you're ready to being learning Ninjutsu. It's called a mother-ring because your mother gives it to you. They're always passed down from mother to daughter, on and on."

_Right, because unlike most clans, the Uzumaki clan takes enormous pride in their females, pushing them into battle even more so than males. Perhaps that is why she's orphaned..._

"I was given mine when I turned nine almost four years ago." She said. "When you become a woman, then you're allowed to take it off and fight without it."

This intrigued me.

"How do you know you've become a woman?" I asked.

She held her ring finger up at me.

"Well, the ring gathers your chakra for all the years that you wear it. It takes about 15% of your chakra force each day for that time period, storing it up so that it all can be expelled in one burst, like now." She explained. "When you have enough chakra control, you stop needing the ring and instead, you can seal it into your body...like here."

She pointed to the center of her forehead. I suddenly recalled seeing a good amount of adult female Uzumaki members with diamond symbols in the center of their foreheads.

"And then you're able to do all types of complicated Ninjutsus and summonings." She said.

Hashirama nodded along, very intrigued.

"So, how long do you have to go?" he asked.

She slipped her ring off and tossed it from one hand to the other.

"No idea." She said. "I...don't really care much..."

I raised my eyebrows.

"Don't you _want_ to come of age?" I asked her.

"Not really." She said simply, slipping it back on.

"Hey." Hashirama said pointing. "Looks like there's a small shop coming up."

I cocked my head, glancing down at my shirt and running my fingertips over the mud and blood stains.

"About time..." I muttered.

Hashirama

We spent the rest of the day drawing further into the land of fire. We were almost to the sand desert area when we stopped, deciding to spend the night in the green plains.

We were lucky that the small shop sold clothes and one of the men working there was able to cut my hair. They cut it rather sort so that it was more so the length of Tobirama's hair than how it usually was but I didn't fret, it was pretty much a given that it would grow back to the way it was by the time I even got home. My hair grew very fast.

Madara was given a pair of pants with a matching long sleeved shirt. He rolled the sleeves of his navy blue shirt up as we positioned ourselves in the middle of a barren field that went on for miles and miles. As I gazed as his new outfit, a thought came to mind.

"You know." I began. "Instead of black or gray pants and a shirt, I think the color you're wearing would be better to blend in with the trees."

Madara glanced down at his navy blue shirt and matching pants and nodded.

"With long sleeves, too?" he asked.

I nodded.

"Less skin showing the better." I replied.

"So that's what you guys were always talking about?" Mito piped up.

We turned to her.

"Yeah." I said. "One day, we're going to build our own village and invite all the clans of the world to live in it with us in peace and harmony. We were just thinking about what the uniform would be."

She grinned and bounced up and down on her haunches excitedly.

"Can I help make the village, too?!" she asked.

"Sure." I replied the same time Madara said "No."

I glanced at him as he rolled his eyes.

"It's _our_ thing." He muttered. "Stay out."

She poked him in his ticklish side, a spot I thought I was the only one who knew about, and giggled as he squirmed.

"If you don't let me in, I'll tickle you to death!" she said.

Madara, deathly afraid of being tickled, jerked backwards, holding his arm out to her.

"Fine! Do whatever you want!"

She smiled at him in a self satisfied way and then turned to me.

"So, what do you have for the uniform so far?" she asked.

"The jacket I'm wearing except it'll be a vest and we'll wear it over the clothes Madara's wearing. Pretty simple." I said.

She frowned.

"Maybe _too _simple." She said, pondering. "You're going to need some headbands. Those'll make you look _ultra_ cool."

My eyebrows popped up and Madara cocked his head, showing he was considering it.

"That is a great idea! Why didn't I think of that?"

Mito flipped her hair over her shoulder in a mocking way.

"You need to be a woman to understand _true_ style." She said, mock pretentiously.

"Please..." Madara muttered.

"Anyway, I guess the headbands could be navy blue like the shirt and pants but they'd also serve a greater purpose than just matching and looking cool." She explained. "We can fit them with metal plates with a symbol on them to show all opposing entities that we're a unit, a solid village."

I observed her closely as she spoke.

_Of course, she would bring up a point like that... Coming from the Uzumaki clan._

"A big issue these days is that a lot of accidental deaths occur because people don't know who is from what clan." She pointed out. "This would make it obvious. But even more than that, it would also make your village feel like a family."

Madara nodded, finally taking her at face value.

"Clan cohesion is very important..." he said, then he pointed at her. "Is the reason you're thinking of this because the Uzumaki clan is so dysfunctional?"

_That is _not_ the way you ask that type of question... Damn, Madara, find a filter..._

But she smiled at him, never taking offense to his harsh tones.

"I guess you could say that." She said. "Our clan_ is_ very divided. Even though, we're supposed to be close allies with the Senju, a lot of us don't believe in that and help the Uchihas instead, and others don't want to war at all and move away from the warring lands altogether, wandering around like nomads. And then a lot of us completely branch off and make our own separate colonies in other areas..."

She shrugged and looked up at the quickly dissipating sunset sky.

"Unlike any of the other clans, we can't even decide on a single leader. All of us believe so many different things... That's why we're unstable and we keep dying like we do." Then she smiled sourly. "Can you believe it? There's probably more than fifty different Uzumaki colonies scattered all around and not _one_ of them can find a stable leader."

Madara shook his head.

"When we make our village, let's make a mental note not to appeal to the Uzumaki's." he said. "That type of disorder will rot a village from the core."

I rolled my eyes.

"Our village is that of change." I reminded him.

I grasped Mito's hand.

"It's Mito's village, too." I said. "We won't discriminate against her clan or any others. Who knows? Maybe an Uzumaki will completely change the world one day."

She gave me a sly smile.

"Then...can I make a change to the uniform?" she asked.

I shrugged. She rubbed her hands together manically.

"Uzumaki clan symbols." She said.

Then she tapped me on the back, in the center of my forest green jacket. "Here." She said, then she tapped Madara on his shoulder. "And right here, and on the other shoulder, too. Three total."

"What?!" Madara exclaimed. "Why would we put _your _symbol on the village uniform?"

"Because _I'm_ the one who came up the headband idea. And besides, I didn't get to contribute to any other part of the uniform."

I shrugged again.

"Like she was saying, the Uzumaki is a generally neutral clan, so all the other clans get along with them fine. It shouldn't hurt anything." I pointed out. "Besides, red's a cool color."

He crossed his arms and muttered. "Fine."

She pumped her fists into the air.

"Yes!"

We were silent for a while. My mind wandered to thoughts about what Mito had said and I realized a very big question was nagging at me.

"If there are so many other colonies that you could go to, why are you still alone?" I asked her.

She didn't turn to me. Instead, she gazed up at the hazy pinkish orange sky with the stars struggling to shine through.

"I can never go back." She said.

"Why?" Madara asked, quick on the uptake.

"It's a long story."

"We have time." I said. "It's not like we're doing anything else."

She sighed and tucked her legs into her chest, resting her chin on her knees.

"The Uzumaki colony I lived in was kind of small. Only around forty people or so. Our base was at the outskirts of the sand desert that we're really close to right now. But because there isn't any nutrients in the sand area, everyone was starving." She explained. "But we couldn't move like someone of the nomad Uzumaki's because that was when the war was really bad and it was really dangerous. Staying off to where we were was our best chance of survival, being such a small colony."

She picked the grass at her feet.

"I lived in a small shack made out of dried sod and tree bark with my mother, father and younger sister, Ayumi-chan. Even though we didn't have much to eat, my childhood was still fun and exciting. My mother and father adored us and spoiled us, even during training." She said. "Even though my sister was four years younger than me, she was almost as good at ninjutsu as I was. It wasn't until I was almost ten that things started to go really wrong."

I bristled, feeling a chilly wind go by.

"I'd noticed that a lot of the local people had begun going missing. One day, they were there and the next day, they weren't." she said. "My father told us not to worry about it. He said that if they died, they didn't have to bare the misery of starvation and if they ran away, then perhaps they found food. I always believed my father to be a firm optimist, trying to look at things from the bright side. And more than that, I wanted to be believe nothing was wrong... I desperately wanted to believe it..."

Then she looked up at us.

"But it didn't make sense." She said, grabbing her head. "It didn't make sense at all. We were all starving. We were all so hungry... But suddenly, people started disappearing and...and...at home, for Ayumi-chan and my mother and I, there was _more_ food."

_Wait... Wait... Wait..._

"I asked my Mother why." She said. "I remember asking her where father was getting it from and I could see she felt disturbed like she'd been thinking about it, too."

_This can't be what she's insinuating..._

I glanced at Madara who was staring at the grass with a tortured expression on his face.

"She put Ai-mi and I to bed early that night." She said, voice dropping to a whisper. "She handed me this ring and told me that if anything were to happen to her, I should fight using it and never stop fighting. She told me that ninjas need to be strong and courageous and that it might be time for me to abandon everything and become a true Shinobi."

A small smirk passed on her lips.

"I didn't even register what she'd said. I was just excited that I'd finally gotten the ring passed down to me. My sister and I admired it as we lay in bed and she kissed us on the forehead and left, going to confront my father." She said quietly. "Then the next day, father told us mother left abruptly to go on a journey and there was no telling when she would get back."

I noticed that her hands were shaking.

"By that time, the amount of people in our colony had dropped 87%." She said. "Because of the disappearances but also because of people just dropping dead in the sand from starving."

Her tremors got more noticeable.

"I remember... Having dinner set in front of us that night and... I remember... Seeing what father had called chicken. And I remember... Knowing deep inside me. So deep that there wasn't even an inch of doubt anywhere, that the meat on my plate was that of my mother." She said. "My father had done a good job chopping it up to make it look like some kind of forest animal, but I could still piece together in my mind the pieces that would make up the arm and the leg and...everything."

I could feel my stomach turning. Madara had both hands on his mouth, probably struggling to keep down what little food he had. Mito went on, though her hands were shaking and her voice was cracking, not a tear slipped down her face.

"I ate her." She said simply. "I knew what it was... I knew what I was doing... I knew what was happening, what my father was responsible for, but I did it anyway... My younger sister didn't like the taste of it, but I forced her to eat also. I just didn't want us to die... I just... I..."

She swallowed and said nothing for a second.

_Now I get it... You're not perfect at all... You greatest flaw is that...you're... You're..._

"I'm a coward." She whispered.

_Yes._

"The next day, when my father left on a hunt for food, Ai-mi and I followed him." She said. "I guess I just wanted solid proof or... I don't know... I don't know what I wanted but I followed him. We saw him try to overpower one of our Mother's brothers and sat in the bushes, cringing as he lost the fight he picked and got stabbed to death by my Uncle. I guess that was when I decided..."

She looked up at us.

"I decided that I was going to run away and never look back. Our uncle came out of the shed with our Father's blood all over him and looked down at us. Ai-mi screamed and cried and I got to my feet and turned and ran. I saw him bending over her, grabbing her, picking her up, but I was too afraid to think... I just kept running and running and running and..."

She trailed off, lips moving but no sound came out.

"And you've been running ever since." Madara finished.

She nodded slowly.

The story was over. I sighed, looking at the fog of breath waft up in front of me.

I'd heard of cannibalism in some of the more insane clans. People pushed to the point of eating each other for survival but never that harsh, never that real.

"Did your father ever give an excuse?"

She shook her head.

"I never let him know that I knew." She said, then she swallowed hard. "But he cried as we ate my mother that night. I think that... In some sick, twisted way he believed murdering the starving was putting them out of their misery..."

"And what did_ you_ believe?" I asked.

"I? I... I didn't believe anything... I... I didn't _let_ myself believe anything. Even now... I'm not letting myself think. I'm telling you guys the story...The evil inside of me. What I've done... But... I'm still...separated from it, you know? I-I'm still..." then she swallowed again.

"Running." Madara said. "You're even running from your own mind."

She slowly lifted her finger and pointed at him.

"You... Mada... You're also running." She said, then she looked at me. "And you, too. Hashi..."

She shook her head.

"That's why I was attracted to you more than anything because...you're like me."

"I'm nothing like you." Madara said immediately. "I'm not a coward."

A side of darkness I'd never seen on her before overcame her as she regarded him.

"Then why don't you go home?" she retorted. "You have a mother and a father and probably a sibling waiting for you, don't you? Why are you out here playing town boy with Hashi, if you're so brave?"

His eyes hardened.

"Shut up."

"Just admit it." She said, returning her eyes to the grass. "Admit that you're just as sorry as I am... And, you too, Hashi... We're all just... Running from war, aren't we? Forever dreaming of a day when we won't have to run anymore."

Madara balled his fists but said nothing. I felt the emptiness of the argument inside me.

_She's right... I _am_ running... I told Hisa-san I was going on this expedition to figure Mada out but the truth is... I don't even _want_ to figure him out. I don't give a _damn_ what clan he's from. And even more than that, since the moment I began this mission, I knew... Deep inside... That all I wanted... All I really wanted was just to..._

"We said it in the beginning didn't we, Mada?" I found myself speaking up.

He slowly looked over at me.

"Wouldn't it be nice if we could just escape?" I repeated.

He nodded and slowly opened his mouth.

"And never come back..." he whispered.

_And still... Even now that I'm coming to terms with what I'm really doing... I _still _don't know if I want to go back... _

UpNext: Mito confesses her love...to who?! See who it is and how they react! Also, EPIC fighting, memory loss, smoking (which is bad for your health) and a tearful departure all in the next and FINAL part of this story! Don't miss it!


	5. Chapter 5

Madara

We all slept pretty roughly that night. I woke up in the middle of the night with my chest pounding but I couldn't remember why or what dream I'd had to frighten me. Mito was whimpering in her sleep and Hashirama was sitting up with his knees to his chest, stroking her hair trying to calm her down.

_We're all insane for running away... _

Hashirama glanced at me, noticing that I was awake and offered me a small smile.

_But we have to keep going until the journey is truly over... Only problem is, when do we know when it's over?_

At that point, I didn't care. All I knew was that I wasn't a coward.

"We're dropping Mito off at the nearest Uzumaki colony." I told Hashirama as he rubbed her back. "And then, we're going home."

He hesitated but, in the end, he nodded. What could he say? She was right. We had no reason to be away from home. If we stayed wandering around any longer, we'd be true cowards. I refused to lose my honor.

When she woke up, we told her our plan. I could see the resistance in her eyes but she said nothing. We continued walking. Hashirama predicted that if we continued walking at the speed we were, we should be there by morning the next day.

We didn't speak to each other for almost an hour of walking. We plowed through the sand desert area. Holding firm against the dry wind, shutting our eyes to just slits as to avoid the flicking sand dust. And suddenly, through all that, Mito opened her mouth.

"This is nice." She said.

I almost thought she'd gone delirious. Hashirama looked confused also. She smiled at us.

"I like our group." She said, airily. "Three is better than two, don't you think?"

"I suppose for dynamics." I responded.

Hashirama nodded.

"It feels a bit more rounded."

"I was thinking in our new village, we should make all ninjas in training perform missions in a three-man rookie group like this." She explained. "Full enough to protect each other but small enough to be like family."

We both nodded.

"That's fine." I said.

It went back to silence again, and then Mito sighed.

"You guys think I'm crazy, don't you?"

"What? No!" Hashirama said. "Of course not!"

"I do." I replied, looking sideways.

"Yeah... Maybe a little bit..." Hashirama admitted.

"Or a lot." I added.

"Yeah... or... a lot..." Hashirama said.

Hashirama and Mito looked at each other and, oddly, began laughing. I could never understand that humor of theirs, always bursting through at awkward moments.

"But don't worry about it." I added, off-handedly. "We're all crazy."

"That's true." Hashirama said grinning. "Madara more than any of us."

Suddenly, he swept his foot out and tripped me. I stumbled, almost falling flat on my face, and turned glaring at him.

"Look at him tripping! He's not even a real ninja." Hashirama joked.

I rolled my eyes.

"Shut-up, jerk-off."

"Loser." He replied.

"Bastard."

"Failure." Hashirama countered.

"Dumbass!" Mito suddenly exclaimed.

We both stared at her blankly.

"...What? I just thought... I could join."

Hashirama burst into laughter. I couldn't help but crack a smile.

"Sorry, Mito. The 'name calling' thing is _our_ thing." Hashirama said.

Oddly, I was grateful for one thing we could call ours and nodded.

About an hour later, we came upon a Tourist Town. Hashirama's face immediately broke out into excitement.

"Yes!" he exclaimed. "It's been so long!"

"So long since what?" Mito asked.

"Hashi, no." I muttered. "We have enough money left over to get home, we don't need to make a detour."

"Come on, Mada. Just this one time, pleaaaaaase! I'll be quick!"

Mito continued looking confused. I sighed and crossed my arms.

"Whatever." I muttered.

We entered the town which was bustling with more people than the first Tourist Town we'd went to. While Hashirama poked around, asking people where a card playing house would be, I hung back with Mito watching people play town games for prizes and buy fried food.

"So you mean to tell me, you and Hashi got around stealing money from people?" she asked.

"Him, not me." I said.

"Well, you assisted." She said, slapping her hand to her face. "Don't you guys know how dangerous that is? People could hold a grudge for that!"

"We already got caught by the first guys Hashi scammed. Looks like he didn't learn his lesson." I said as we posted up against the fence. "But it doesn't really matter. We're ninja. Worst comes to worst, we'll just kick their asses."

"Ohhh, someone's so confident." She said, smirking at me.

A man who had been milling about near us looking at some clothes, suddenly advanced on Mito.

"Hey, little girl, I'll give you my whole week's pay for a good time."

Mito didn't even blink. She ignored him, crossing her arms and looking the other direction. He moved back into her line of sight.

"Come on, don't be so rigid. You need money, don't you, baby?" he asked.

I rolled my shirt sleeves up.

"Get your sorry ass out of here before I _make _you." I said, standing in front of her.

He rolled his eyes and laughed.

"Oh, little tough guy, huh?" he asked, chuckling so loudly people looked over. "What are you? Seven years old? Beat it, punk."

_I'm going to kill this guy..._

There was a box of wooden bats being used for the prize game next to the fence we were standing against. I picked one of them up. He continued laughing.

"Oh? You gonna hit me? By the time you even try, I'll already have made off with your frilly little girlfriend there and-"

I swung the bat against a pole next to us, cleanly snapping it in two. He immediately stopped speaking. I walked up to him, waving it slowly without saying a single word.

"Okay... Okay... Calm down, kid." He said.

But I continued walking toward him, gripping it as hard as I could and holding the jagged pieces of wood at his neck. He turned, quickly immersing himself in the crowd and getting away as fast as he could.

"Ohhh." Mito said, throwing an arm around my shoulders. "Scary!"

I dropped the bat and rolled my eyes.

"I hate these stupid town men who think they can do whatever they want."

She laughed.

"It's hard to believe you're the same kid who almost got kidnapped by that man!" she exclaimed. "Looks like you've learned the ways of a normal kid, now."

I shrugged out of her grip.

"Yeah, whatever."

"Hey..."

I glanced at her as she looked me up and down.

"Thanks for standing up for me."

I turned away from her so she couldn't see me blushing.

"You're welcome."

We were silent for a while. The noise and excitement from the town picked up. The band began playing music loudly as a procession moved through the town. Mito's eyes widened.

"It looks like the feudal lord is passing through here!" she exclaimed. "Wow! I've never even seen one before!"

I craned my neck as people twice our size stood in our way, blocking our view.

_I've never seen one before either..._

I glanced at Mito who was jumping up and down trying to see and tapped her shoulder.

"Get on my shoulders." I told her. "You'll be able to see then."

I knelt down so she could pull herself up onto me and then stood up.

"Wow. I can see over everyone!" she exclaimed.

"What does he look like?" I asked from below.

"He's inside of a tent people are carrying. All I can see is his waving hand." She told me. "But he's wearing a red robe. Do you think he's here to stop the wars?"

I laughed cynically.

"Of course not. He's probably just here for women and drinks."

She nodded.

"Yeah... You're probably right."

I bent down again, allowing her to get off me. She accidently kicked my pocket on her way down reminding me of the package I had stored there. They were Tsuyoi's cigarette's, which I'd removed from his pocket when I buried him. I couldn't really grasp myself why I'd taken him. Just that, somehow, it made me feel like that conversation, that whole past he told me about wasn't just something I made up. Mito cocked her head, giving me a pensive look.

"What?"

"You're...being kind of nice lately."

Because of the people cheering and clapping loudly around us, we could barely hear each other, let alone be overheard.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I said, pressing my back against the fence again.

"Mada..."

I slowly turned back to her. Her expression was serious. Her dark eyes gazed into mine as she reached over and slipped her hand into mine.

"I...really like you." She confessed. "You know that, don't you?"

Even to this day, I can't explain the rush I felt then. The heat rushing through my blood stream and getting to particular parts of my body quicker than lightning. She continued grasping my hand tenderly. I had to breathe to clear my head of all the butterflies and bullshit that mixed up in my brain.

"...You like Hashirama." I reminded her.

"I know." She said, nodding. "But often times, I feel like I like you more."

"Are you sure that's not just when you're alone with me?" I pointed out.

She paused, considering it.

"Besides..." I went on.

I recalled Hashirama's words. His confession to me.

"Hashirama likes you." I said, pulling my hand away from hers. "So, just concentrate on him."

"I'm sorry..." she said, tugging on the white skirt she had always worn that, somehow, never seemed to get dirty. "I just thought...you liked me back."

_...I do._

"I don't like cowards." I responded, looking away.

She ducked her head shamefully.

"You don't know how sorry I am for what I did..." she whispered. "That's why I can never go back."

"I'd rather live everyday in misery and shame than spend one day as a coward." I told her.

"You don't understand." She said, balling her fists. "I don't want to be a ninja anymore! I don't want anything to do with that life anymore! Because...even if I do go back... There won't be anything to go back _to_. My parents are dead. My sister... I shudder to think what became of her... There's _nothing_ for me."

_Honestly, Mito... You wouldn't believe how similar we really are. At this point... I can relate to you even better than Hashirama. After seeing what happened to Tsuyoi and everyone, I didn't want to be a ninja either. I wanted to erase all ninja off of the planet but..._

"This is the life we live, Mito." I told her. "Even if it's painful and depressing and just completely fucking insane, it's...our _lives_."

I turned looking her fully in the eyes.

"The only thing left for you to go back home to now is your pride. Wear the title of a ninja and don't run away from it. Because..." I thought back to what Hashirama had said. "We, all three of us, are not their kind of people. We're different."

She was silent for a while. She picked at a loose fiber in her white shirt and then turned to me, moving her red hair out of her face as she did. Her cheeks were full and red in a permanent blush that grew deeper since her confession. I fidgeted with my fingers, fighting a strange urge to reach over and stroke her cheek.

"Not their kind of people, huh?" she asked me.

Slowly, she smiled, lips tinted in a warm, pink hue.

"I guess...I can go home with that in mind."

_Now it all makes sense to me._ _Why she didn't care about coming of age. Why she cared more about losing the ring because of the sentimental value and not because of the power it held. She was probably glad for losing it in a way... So she wouldn't be connected to the ninja world at all._

Even though she had just smiled, the expression washed away quickly and she crossed her arms and brushed her sandals back and forth in the dirt. Half of me felt bad for being so hard on her but if I didn't, no one would. Hashirama was too blinded by her "perfection" to ever tell her anything straight up. I was the only one who could give her the tough love she needed. And what she really needed was to learn how to get a grip and find herself... Or she'd be wandering around town after town all alone for the rest of her life. And... I couldn't let that happen.

_But still... I don't think I'll ever meet a girl as pretty as she is again in my entire life... _

"Thank you for being honest with me, at least." She said quietly, still awkwardly looking down at the dirt.

_I'm really am an idiot._

"Oi, Oi, Oi..." said a voice.

We both turned and looked up. Most of the crowd had dispersed. The carriage carrying the lord went by and people were returning to their party activities. A single man stood over us carrying a boy over his shoulder. Nanamba.

"What happened to him?!" I exclaimed.

"Shhh." Nanamba said, holding a finger to his lips. "Don't worry. We were playing cards at the house and he had his first drink. It might've been a bit too much for him... The kid fell straight out."

I relaxed. Watching as he patted Hashirama fondly who was slung over his left shoulder.

"That idiot." I muttered. "What the hell possessed him to drink alcohol?"

Nanamba laughed and ran his hand through his white hair.

"Everyone gets curious, I guess."

He turned, walking around and Mito and I stood on his other side. Abruptly, Mito grasped my hand tightly. I glanced down at her.

"What?"

"I don't know..." she whispered. "I feel weird."

We continued following Nanamba who was heading on a path that led out of the town and father in the direction of the forests that had the huge mudslide way at the beginning of our journey. I was distracted, reminiscing about how, even then, Hashirama always felt like it was his responsibility to save me when Mito tugged my hand again.

"I get it now." She said to me.

I looked at her, eyebrows raised. We were deep in the forest by that time. I glanced up at the canopy of leaves overhead. Sunlight was patchy, breaking through some open spots in the canopy and leaves wafted down over us, blowing in the breeze.

"He's a ninja." She told me, just as Nanamba turned around, grin wide and menacing.

"Now..." he said, hiking a limp Hashirama further up onto his shoulder. "What I really came here for..."

Hashirama

_This is gonna be so much fun!_

I spun away from a sulking Madara and a confused Mito, heading toward the first sketchy-looking tent I could find. I rubbed my hands together anxiously.

_I don't even care if I lose money this time. Just playing will be enough..._

I edged through the crowd full of people. It was so full. So many people.

_And besides, we're going home anyway. I should get one last game before I have to go back, right?_

Soon, I stood right in front of a large sign that read in large colors: Bet All You Have Downstairs

Without a second wasted, I rounded the wooden station and found a staircase in the back and made my way downstairs.

_At home, everything is so boring and depressing. Just this last time will be enough._

I found myself in front of a large door and pushed it open.

_Just this last time._

"Oi, if you think you can win, pull up a-"

The person speaking froze. I froze. My life entire life seemed to have frozen.

_Shit! Of all people?! It had to be _these_ guys?_

Forcing myself to act, I spun on my heels and ran...but I didn't get very far. I knocked face first into another person.

"Hey!" they exclaimed.

Eyes, wide, I looked up at the man with bluish white hair and oddly lavender colored eyes.

_Nanamba._

Chairs rustled behind me, the men were getting up.

"We must have God on our side." Said Kakeru, cracking his knuckles.

Masato sneered a wide-eerie looking grin and the man with no name remained seated but gripped his glass so hard it cracked. The injury from Madara having stabbed him in the leg was still there.

Behind me, Nanamba cocked his head in a confused way.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"You weren't here, idiot, so you don't know." Kakeru said. "That stupid boy and his friend are ninjas! The way they fight... It's obvious!"

Masato edged toward me.

"Well, this one is the one you have to worry about." He said angrily. "The other one isn't as difficult."

"Ninjas?" Nanamba asked.

He walked out in front of me, picking a couple of knives off the table and dirty plates that they'd seemed to have eaten off of.

"Then...what the heck is he doing-"

"It doesn't matter what he's doing! Cause we're going to kill him!"

He lunged for me and jumped back, planning to try to run up the stairs and get out of that town as fast as I could but suddenly, he froze. And then I froze.

Kakeru stared at me, then his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he dropped face down onto the floor with a knife jutting out of the right side of his neck. Masato and I both turned to the direction of the attack but then Masato jerked violently and flipped over the chair, falling to the floor with a knife lodged in his heart. The man with the shaved head struggled to get to his feet, gritting his teeth against the pain, but it didn't matter. A knife was swiftly thrown like a dagger across the room and straight into the center of his forehead, freezing him immediately.

I looked at Nanamba who brushed the cake crumbs from the knives off of his shirt impatiently and sighed.

"Sorry about that." He said. "Those guys are pretty loud."

I stared at him. He whistled softly, continuing to clean his shirt.

"You just _killed_ your friends." I managed to say.

"My friends?" he asked, looking baffled. "Do you really think the way they treat me is the way someone treats a _friend_?"

I lowered my gaze to the ground, feeling unsure.

"Hell, if that's the case I'd hate to see the way they treat their enemies!"

He walked past me and squatted on the floor.

"Anyway, I was stuck with them against my will." He said. "My father was indebted their Father and to ensure that he paid his debts, I was basically sold to Kakeru and Masato's home as a slave when I was ten. Their father immediately passed me on to them, ordering me to do anything they said and since then, I've just been their plaything."

_That's sad._

He got to his feet.

"For a long time now, I've decided that I was going to run away one day and start my own life." He went on. "But I've just been waiting for the perfect opportunity."

He walked back over to me with a glass full of something and handed it to me. I looked at it curiously.

"It'll calm your nerves. You're shaking." He said, smirking. "Really thought you were gonna bag it, yeah?"

I laughed shakily.

"I-I guess..." I lifted the drink to my lips and took a full gulp.

_This actually tastes good._

"So, what made this the perfect opportunity?" I asked.

"Well, I needed enough money so that I could escape without having to depend on anyone." He said.

I raised my eyebrows, taking another gulp.

"You got that much money now?" I asked, feeling compelled to sit down. "How?"

"Ransom." He said simply. "They said you and your friend are from ninja clans, right?"

"Yup." I said, drinking again.

He nodded.

"Right. That's perfect for me. Almost the best thing that's ever happened to me. Now, I'll just offer you both to your clans for money."

I blinked slowly.

_Why does it feel like this room is getting smaller?_

"And your families will definitely give me more than enough to keep me sustained for a very long time. I'm sure your lives will be that important to them."

I found I couldn't concentrate on him. I bounced my legs up and down and took another sip.

_What is he even talking about?_

"And if your parents don't agree, I guess I'll just have you two work for me, winning money like you do and just giving it all to me."

_Why is he even talking? I didn't ask him a question...did I?_

"And I guess when I get enough money from your schemes..." He said, crossing his legs as he leaned against the wall. "I'll probably have to kill you both. I can't afford you striking back against me somehow."

_Who is that guy, anyway?_

My blinks went even slower. I leaned back against the wall, feeling my eyes glaze over as I gazed at him.

_And...where am I?_

"But I wouldn't expect you to understand a word of what I'm saying anyway." He said, taking my glass from me. "You just drank at cup full of a disorientation elixir that I've been working on for a while. I was actually going to use it against _them_ one day, but now I'll just use it on you and your friend."

I leaned forward, putting my head on the table.

"That's right." He said, leaning over me. "Just go to sleep... Let me worry about what'll happen from now on."

Very abruptly, everything faded to black and the only sounds to be heard were the soft chuckles of Nanamba's voice in the back of my mind. I could only grasp one thing. One final cause for confusion... More important than any other question...

_Who...am _I_?_

Madara

"What the hell did you do to Hashirama!?" Mito exclaimed.

Nanamba paused next to a tree and let Hashirama fall against it limply.

"Relax." He said. "He'll probably wake up soon...whether or not he's coherent when he does... I can't say."

"His chakra level is extremely low. Even if he did drink alcohol, it's more like... He's been poisoned." She said.

"Poisoned?" I asked.

My eyes narrowed at him.

"Who are you?"

"You remember me, yeah?" he said. "I'm Nanamba. Nanamba...Hozuki."

_Hozuki? From _that_ clan?_

I wanted to test him. I darted at him, though I had no ninja tools, I could still use the surroundings to my advantage. I kicked a rock up, grabbed it and threw it at him as swiftly as I could. Just like I thought, it hit the side of his head and went straight through, to the other side causing a big splash of water on the side of his head.

These water users are peculiar... Their bodies can completely decompose into water at will. They all have long, bluish white hair and are genetically predisposed to be Kenjutsu geniuses.

Just like I suspected, he pulled a couple of regular knives out of his pocket. Without taking my eyes off of him, I motioned to Mito.

"Go to Hashi now." I told her. "Try to wake him up. If he doesn't, then just pick him up and run."

She stared at me, eyes wide. Nanamba continued twirling the knives around like a show-off.

"Go!" I yelled to her as I ran at him.

I dodged to the left, smoothly avoided his knife and twirled around, kicking his leg which then shattered into a puddle of water. He dropped down to his one good knee and slashed the knife back toward me, I bent over into a back flip, narrowly avoiding it by the skin of my teeth and brought my legs upward. One of my legs connected fluidly with his head, spraying water everywhere but not affecting him.

_How many times do I have to hit him before it works?_

I glanced at Mito who was shaking Hashirama animatedly. He roused, blinking slowly and looking around, half dazed.

_He doesn't look like he can help fight at all... I'll have to be a distraction so they can get away. But then... Where does that leave _me_?_

He lunged at me again and I kicked upwards, knocking the knife out of his hand. Instead of just his hand turning to water, his entire body exploded, causing waves to wash over the grass. I held my guard, looking around quickly for signs of movement but there were none. The water was still over the knife in the grass.

"Is he waking up?" I asked, not taking my eyes away from the ground.

"Yeah but... He doesn't know who he is."

That caught my attention.

"What?!" I exclaimed.

Hashirama blinked at me dully. I balled my fists.

"Hashi, do I have to come over there and smack the shit out of you!? We don't have time for this!"

Hashirama frowned and looked at Mito.

"Why is that boy yelling at me?" he whimpered.

"Mada, stop yelling at him!" Mito exclaimed, clearly in hysterics. "You're making it worse!"

_Well, that's it then... This fight is completely against me now. There's no way Hashirama can fight if he's lost his memory. _

I looked around at the still ground, shifting my feet, trying to figure out where he was hiding.

_This is the worst opponent I could ever be faced with. He's almost a perfect water style. I'm a fire style. He's a Kenjutsu user. I can't even land a hit with my Taijutsu. If I had something else, Senjutsu or Genjutsu, it'd tip the odds in my favor but like this... I can't win... I can't win here..._

"Mito, let's just go, we can't-"

The water suddenly, reformed. The entire time I'd been talking, it was edging toward me but I hadn't noticed. He shot back up into place, trying to uppercut me with the knife in his hand. I just managed to shift my body backwards but I was still hit. He cut me straight up the center of my chest from belt line to collarbone. I fell backwards into the grass, struggling to slide backwards. He threw the knife at me and though I jerked my head left, I was cut again, across the side of my cheek. I jumped up and backwards, landing on my knees. He sank into water again and the puddle moved, flitting back and forth across the water.

_Shit... Now I see how he did it. In that water form, he's fast._

He zoomed toward me and I barely rolled to the side as he shot past.

_Too fast. My eyes can't keep up._

Blood dripped onto the grass from the gash across my chest. Across from me, Mito was hugging Hashi.

_Why didn't they run yet? What the hell is she doing?_

I watched her dip her head downward and kiss him softly on the lips.

_Why is she...?_

"Watching something interesting?" a voice said behind me.

_Dammit!_

I turned and punched, turning him to water again which quickly zoomed away from me and straight toward Mito and Hashirama. Hashirama was stroking her cheek and hair, whispering something to her. She was nodding hard, agreeing and listening and, strangely, she also began crying.

_What the hell are they doing?!_

"Run! Mito! He's coming!" I shouted.

Mito got to her feet and faced me. Hashirama raised a finger and pointed at me weakly as he shouted:

"DO IT NOW!"

She got to her feet and, right as Nanamba formed in front of her, knife raised high, she jumped at him and punched. The blow was incredible. I was more than seven meters away from them and I was blown backward by the backlash. When she punched at him, she went through him and down into the dirt. The resulting crater was more than eight feet wide. Water sprayed and splashed everywhere, but began coming back together quickly.

She breathed heavily, fists balled, eyes surveying the area. And then, quickly, she jumped left and punched a tree, splitting it straight in half and knocking it over.

_What?! How did she know he was going to form there?_

I watched as she jumped all around, punching places that water wasn't even forming and then it hit me.

_She can sense him... She can sense chakra..._

Slowly, she made her way over to where I knelt.

"This isn't going to help anything." I told her as she squatted next to me. "We can't kill him."

"Weren't you supposed to be thinking of a way to kill him all this time?" she asked me.

My face turned to that of disbelief.

"I didn't realize you were buying time!" I retorted.

She shook her head and pulled her ring off, tossing it at me. I caught it, more so that it didn't hit me in the face than because I actually wanted to.

"I think I can fight without this now." She said to me, grinning. "I feel ready somehow."

I stared at her, eyes bulging.

"Your forehead!" I yelled, pointing as a purple diamond appeared. "You're doing it!"

A grin bigger than one I'd ever seen sprouted on her face as she touched the spot.

"Really?! Wow... I'm finally concentrating and controlling chakra without a medium!"

Suddenly, her head snapped back toward the field. She ran, making a beeline for Hashirama who was struggling to get to his feet.

"Hashirama, jump to your left!" she shouted.

He looked dazed again and he stood shakily. She jumped in the air, tackling him to the ground and rolling a little ways down the slope just as a knife hit the tree he was just standing at. I had been clutching her ring in my fist, adrenaline pumping through veins out of worry.

Suddenly, the ring felt hot.

_Like...the first time I had it._

I slipped it onto my finger and it began to feel hotter. I stared at it for a while and then, hearing Mito's scream, I looked up.

Strangely, as I looked toward the field, everything looked like it was moving in slow motion. All of the scattered pieces of water seemed to be glowing bright blue. Even the ring on my finger was glowing bright blue.

_What's happening?_

I heard Mito's scream again and got to my feet. I ran, moving sufficiently faster than I'd ever remembered moving in my life and as I ran, I saw something flit past me. I turned my head.

_I can see him! _

Because it had been raining for so many days, he wasn't just hiding in his own water puddles, he was also hiding in the grass, the soil, the trees. Hashirama, who was skilled with earthy jutsu, most likely would've been able to sense him in those places and Mito could sense his chakra and now I, too, could see him...

_But how? How am I doing this?_

I resolved for figuring it out later and instead, continued sprinting toward Mito and Hashirama. Mito had her arms outstretched in front of him.

_That idiot. She's really going to sacrifice herself?_

Nanamba reappeared, coming from the tree bark next to him and threw the knife. I quickened my footsteps and even though I was halfway across the field, I got there in less than a second, hand closing around the knife that was inches from Mito's face.

I saw him scurrying back across the grass and ran, beating him to his next hiding spot. He zoomed back over to the place I had just been and I sped up, catching him there, too. He continued navigating around but because I could see him, I was easily faster than him. He was slow. The only thing working for him was his water nature and I had figured that out. Exhausted, he reappeared in the center of the field. I chucked the knife at him which went through his head and out to the other side. He whirled around, turning to look at me and we came face to face.

"Why don't you stop running like a coward?" I asked him, then with hard, cold eyes I ordered: "DON'T MOVE."

He jerked slightly, eyes bulging and fell backwards into the grass. His body did not move. He didn't even blink.

_What the hell...?_

I stared at him for a while, thinking of everything, trying to piece it all together, but it wouldn't make sense. I couldn't make the connection.

_How did I do that?_

"What did you do?" Mito called.

I turned as she ran up the slope and came over to me. Then, she stopped, freezing in her tracks.

"Mada... What... What happened...?"

I stared at her.

"What?" I asked.

"Your eyes... You're..." she said, taking a step back. "You're an..."

I slowly touched my face, finally understanding the strained pressure I felt around my eyes.

_Sharingan?_

Then I quickly turned back to Nanamba still on the ground.

_But then that means... I just casted a genjutsu!_

I stared at him.

_How did I do it...? _

Mito suddenly came up behind me and grabbed my hand, pulling her ring from my finger. Almost immediately, the hazy, heightened feeling that I'd had before disappeared and I couldn't see the glowing blue chakra sources anymore.

She looked at the ring in her hand, nodding.

"Looks like you can't do that without a medium to control your chakra."

_A medium? That's right... Apart from extreme necessity and a very intense emotion, you also needed a high level of chakra control to unlock the Sharingan, it was prudent to directing one's chakra toward their eyes. Chakra control I hadn't grasped yet..._

"But it's true. I've been walking around this entire time with...an _Uchiha_. ...That's crazy..."

Even though her words sounded like those of awe...and maybe even fear, she didn't look frightened of me at all. Most likely because the ring, which was the source of my transformation, was safely in her grasp. She smiled then, chuckling slightly.

"I never would've guessed..." she said, looking and me wryly. "I mean, you're a jerk but you're not _that_ much of a jerk."

I knelt next to Nanamba, poking him in the face.

"Where's Hashi?" I asked.

"Probably still lying in the grass." She said, pointing. "He's remembered himself but he's going in and out of consciousness. I think he'll be alright though."

_How lucky..._

"Hey..." I said quietly. "Don't tell him about this, okay?"

"Why not?! He's going to be so pumped when he finds out! He'll be blown straight to-"

"Mito." I said, a deeper tone rising in my voice.

She cocked her head, then, silently giving me a once over. Then she raised her eyebrows.

"So this means... You've both been hiding your clans from each other?"

A cool breeze blew by, I found myself gazing up at the large white clouds floating overhead.

"I have a pretty good idea of what he is." I said, straightening up. "But I don't care to know for sure."

"You think it's going to affect your friendship?" she asked, taking her foot and nudging the rigid Nanamba with it. "I have a pretty good idea of what he is, too, and finding out what you are just now didn't bother me at all... Doesn't that count for something? I mean, you two are _best_ friends."

"Not really." I said solemnly. "...Some things are better left unsaid."

_I don't need to find a new reason to hate anyone else. Especially if that person is him._

Finally, she shrugged.

"I trust you." Was all she said before she turned and walked back toward where Hashirama lay.

A couple of minutes later, she reappeared with Hashirama. I had been walking around Nanamba waiting for him to jump up having pretended to listen to my command but he never did. He was frozen solid. I kicked him, jumped on him and even spat in his face and he didn't move. His eyes were wide open, almost like he stuck in time forever.

"That's creepy..." Hashirama said when he came over. "What the hell did you _do_ to him?"

"It wasn't me." I said, offhandedly.

Mito and I avoided each other's eyes.

"Anyway, I'm done looking at him." I said, flipping the knife around in my hand.

_Again... I have to become an assassin. _

I knelt over him, preparing myself to drive it swiftly through his jugular.

_But I refuse to run away from who I am. This...murder...is what we do._

Suddenly, Mito's hand flew in my line of sight, grasping the knife in my hand.

"You can't be serious!" she exclaimed, looking appalled. "I mean... Yeah, he tried to kill us but...that's cruel to kick someone when they're down."

"Not when Mada can't kill him when he's up!" Hashi joked.

I stared at her for a moment then sighed, retracting my knife.

"So what do you want to do?" I asked her.

"Just leave him." She proposed.

_You don't get it, do you Mito? Always struggling to be the perfect saint. You still don't get it..._

"No." Hashirama spoke up, suddenly serious. "He planned to follow us to our clans and try to bribe money from our families. He's the kind of person who won't quit until he's got what he's wanted. It's too dangerous leaving him here."

"But you yourself said he just wanted to escape, right? Just like us..."

We stared down at him, sunlight beating on our bare skin.

"Sometimes what you want to do and what's smart are like oil and water." Hashirama told her in a monotone voice. "Like we said before...this world is cruel."

_Exactly. And we...people like us...are the epitome of that cruelty. _

"Go ahead, Mada..." Hashirama said quietly.

I glanced at Mito who frowned at him. She was probably seeing him clearly for the first time.

_And this is the side of him that only I know. That ruthlessness. That decisiveness. That cruelty. The inherent similarity to us both is that, at the end of the day, neither of us will hesitate...to sacrifice a soul. _

I lifted the knife and bent down, slashing cleanly sideways. Oddly, as I did so, I imagined seeing everything from his perspective.

_Unmoving. Unable to get up and run. Seeing the canopy of the light green forest bright over his eyes. The moving white clouds and the bright blue sky. I wonder if, right before everything faded to black, he felt that he'd finally escaped..._

Hashirama

_I do feel guilty about killing Nanamba. He truly _was_ just like us. But we had no choice._

We all walked with our heads lowered. After Madara bit Mito to heal his wounds, something he was very embarrassed and timid about, we continued on our journey.

_That's why I need to go home. That's why I can't run away. Because I'm going to be the one to make a world where we _do_ have a choice._

It was the most frightening thing ever when I had lost my memory. I didn't know who I was or what I was doing or even who Mito and Madara were. But then...

"Hashi, it's me. Remember? Mito!"

After Madara yelled at me, I became slightly more eager to comply with her verbal cues.

"Mi...to?" I repeated.

"Please, Hashi. Please. Remember!"

But nothing was coming to mind. Everything was dark and still in my brain.

"Try to focus."

But it was really hard to focus. She was looking directly at me, but behind her I could see Madara fighting with what looked to me like a flitting water ghost and getting his chest cut to pieces doing it.

"Hey... Who's...Hashi?" I asked her.

And then, she grabbed me firmly on the shoulders, practically hugging me.

"Hashirama! Your name is Hashirama!"

"Hashirama?" I repeated.

Then she leaned forward and kissed me. And that kiss was the gateway.

_Kiss? Kiss... Someone had kissed me like this before. I saved her from a well... Well? Where was that well? Right... At the castle... At the castle we stayed at while we were traveling. We? Who's we? Madara, right? Madara... And we're traveling, going, going... Going where? Where? Why? Escaping. We wanted to escape? Escape from what? What? The...war. _

And with the world "war" everything else came flooding back in like a waterfall. The gate to my brain had burst open.

_War... Fighting... Death... Itama. Itama. Itama. _

And my brain spun all the way back to that moment, carrying my baby brother home, Tobirama's accusing glare, Hisa-san's screams, my father's sorrowful song. I gripped my head.

"I'm... Hashirama..." I said between gritted teeth.

_But wait... Why am I even escaping?_ _I have something I have to do, don't I? I have a reason... A reason... A reason to remember!_

Mito pulled back then and stroked my cheek softly.

"Hashi... Who am I?"

"Mito." I said surely. "You're...the prettiest, smartest, kindest girl I've ever met."

She smiled at me.

"Compliments?" she said wryly. "It really _is_ you!"

I smiled back, but then Madara struggling with Nanamba flashed into my line of sight again.

"We have to run away, Hashi." She said. "Come on."

"No." I told her. "No more running away."

She looked at me, fear inching into her eyes. I reached out and ran my hand over her hair and onto her soft cheek.

"You're strong, Mito." I told her. "You have the strength to help, Mada. You have to distract him long enough so that he can figure out how to beat Nanamba."

She shook her head.

"I can't do something like that... I..."

"What did your mother tell you?" I asked. "When she gave you that ring..."

She looked down at it and then, tears began to crowd, threatening to spill over onto her cheeks.

"She told me to... Fight. Fight and never stop fighting... So that I can become a true Shinobi."

"Mito, the time has come for you to be a true Shinobi." I whispered to her. "Assist Madara. You can do it."

She nodded hard.

"I believe in you."

She got to her feet, continuing to nod.

"Make your mother proud."

Her fists balled, the ring on her finger began to shine.

"DO IT NOW!" I had yelled.

_Right... And almost losing myself reminded me of why I need to be who I am. _

"That's it, isn't it?" Madara asked.

I looked up. We stood in a valley, looking up at a little village on the top of one of the highest mountains.

"That has to be an Uzumaki Colony." He went on. "It's not even protected by paper bomb or shuriken traps. It _has_ to be a neutral clan."

Mito nodded.

"I can sense familiar chakra signatures." Then, suddenly, her eyes widened. "No way..."

She broke out into a sprint, making her way up the hill. Madara and I exchanged glances and ran after her, following her footsteps, up, up, and up all the way to the gated entrance.

"Who goes down there?" a voice from the watch tower called.

"I'm an Uzumaki!" Mito exclaimed.

"Who can prove this on your behalf?" the guard yelled from a tower behind the gate.

"This is my grandmother's colony! Tell the elderly women my name is Mito! They'll come for me!"

The man nodded and passed the information down.

"You recognized your grandmother's chakra signature?" I asked.

She shook her head.

"Actually, I knew my grandmother would be here." She said, smiling sheepishly. "We used to visit her often when I was a child. I just...didn't think I could face her."

"Do you feel like you can face her now?" I asked.

She held her chest.

"I feel a lot of things...confused, scared, anxious... But I also feel happy. Happier than I've felt in a long time. I think there's someone here that I really want to see."

She began bouncing on the balls of her feet anxiously.

The gate began to open. We stood back a few steps as the walk way slammed down in front of us. A short, old woman shuffled out of the gates and toward the walk-way. She said nothing, only smiled an old, wrinkled smile. The woman had a painful resemblance to Hikari-san and suddenly, it made sense to me why she'd stayed at the castle for so long.

Slowly, a head poked out from behind the woman. A head with a flourish of shoulder length red hair and bright hazel eyes.

"Mito!" the little girl screamed.

That was when she ran, tears streaming, mouth open in a yell.

"Ayumi-chan!" she shouted.

"Mito!" the girl screamed.

She hugged her sister, swinging her around and holding her to her chest. She sobbed hard, shaking with the power of them and it began painfully clear how much she'd truly missed her.

_How hard it must've been for her... Thinking her younger sister was dead all this time. This discovery is a tragedy _and _a blessing._

Because Madara and I were clearly not Uzumaki's we had to wait across the bridge. Mito entered and caught up with all her relatives. A little ways down the hill, we waiting, swinging from trees and sparring for fun. After I had pinned Madara to the dirt for the fourth time, he rolled his eyes and looked back up the hill.

"You think we should just leave?" he asked. "She's clearly happy."

"She'll come back to us. At least to say goodbye." I said, nodding with certainty.

And I was right, less than five minutes later, she was back.

"Turns out my Uncle was my sister's savior. Even though he also was dying from hunger, he hadn't resorted to the extremes my Father had. When he picked Ai-mi up then, he was protecting her, not hurting her. I ran away, paranoid and wouldn't stop even when he called me."

She laughed at her own trifling errors.

"I'm just really happy that they found their way here and met up with grandmother."

Tears began to slip down her cheeks.

"She's so big now... And she's so much stronger than I remember her being." She said. "She said she was waiting for me to come back...so I could give her my ring."

"Well, go ahead and give it to her." Madara said, poking her in the forehead. "You're fine without it, right?"

She nodded, touching the diamond on her forehead, which still hadn't dissipated, fondly.

"Or else_ I_ might take it." He added.

She laughed and he joined in.

_...What's so funny?_

He punched her in the shoulder.

"Hey, our new village isn't going to accept cowards, so the next time I see you, you better be strong." He told her.

She smiled at him and grasped his hand fondly.

"And hopefully, by then, you won't be so much of an asshole."

He scoffed.

"I can't change who I am." He said, turning and walking down the hill.

She stepped up to me.

"I guess this is it, Hashi." She said. "The end of the adventure."

I shook my head.

"It's not over, Mito." I said. "Just keep fighting. Fight as hard as you can to stay alive so that, in the future, we can be together. Don't ever give up again. Do you promise?"

"I promise... I'll never run away again."

"And you'll wait for me?"

She laughed.

"Even if I die an old, virgin woman, I'll still wait. I swear on it."

I laughed in return and hugged her tightly. We pulled back slightly and then I leaned forward kissing her lips. With my face inches from hers, I whispered:

"The next time I see you, I'll never let you go again. That's _my_ promise."

Madara

We continued walking through the last bits of forest until, like a dream. We came upon the river again. It didn't take me long to find the spot I had hidden my skipping stone. But once I grasped it in my hand, it felt strange...like it was too small or something. Instead I dropped it next to the edge of the river where Hashirama sat down next to each other. My pants brushed up against the rubble and I recalled the cigarettes I had again and pulled them out.

There were only two left in the box.

_Fitting..._

"What is that?"

"Some ninja in the Land of the Earth created it... It calms nerves." I said as I handed him one.

He wordlessly took it and waited for me to strike a match on my pants, similar to the way Tsuyoi-san did, and light it for him and then light my own. Neither of us coughed. I gazed down at my skipping stone and, oddly, felt the urge to get rid of it. So, I did. It plunged into the bottom of the river, mixing in with all the others.

Then we sat there for almost a full hour, saying nothing, smoking until our cigarettes burned out. Watching the sun set. Listening to the river run. The storm was gone. I almost had a strange sense there had never been a storm... And it was just...

_The physical manifestation of my own depressing nightmare...following me wherever I go._

But you can't escape the storm. Not until you accept it.

"You know, Mada." Hashirama said, being the first to break the silence. "I'm glad we did this."

"Yeah, me too, even if it did make us look like cowards."

He giggled.

"You know, I think we're finally men now." He said.

"Why?"

I still wasn't able to unlock my Sharingan permanently even though I did discover that I had an interesting ability with my genjutsu castings...

"Because we're not running away anymore."

_So, we're finally admitting we were running now?_

After a while, he got to his feet.

"Let's go home, Mada." He said. "And let's never look back again, only toward the future."

I gazed at his hand and suddenly remembered the way it had been in the beginning. With him extending a hand, and me making the choice to take it or not. And just like at the beginning of it all, I took his outstretched hand without a second thought... But this time, we parted ways. He began making his way toward the trees and I headed toward the river.

"Oh wait, this whole time I've been wondering..."

I turned and looked at him.

"Why were you always pretending not to like Mito?" he asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" I asked. "Because _you_ liked her."

"Yeah, but she liked _both _of us, didn't she?" he reminded me. "You could've tried something with her if you really wanted to."

_Don't rub it in..._

I shook my head.

"You're wrong." I told him. "She liked _you_. What she felt for me was nothing more or less than pity."

"_He might seem crude and callous and uncaring but... I know he has a heart. And for some reason, _I_ want to be the one to find it. I...want to make him happy."_

She saw me as a fallen angel. Something that, in a way, resembled her. So, she identified with me. My faults were her faults. My shortcomings were also hers. She wanted to "fix" me because she believed that it would help her fix herself. However, Hashirama...

"_Hashirama's such a sweetheart. He's the funniest, kindest guy I've ever met in my life. He's playful but he's also really, really smart. And he's so cute."_

He's the one she was really infatuated with. She adored him. That much was obvious to me.

I looked on at the flowing river.

"Anyone can chase after what they want." I began quietly. "But I think it takes a real man to realize that there are just some things in life they just can't have."

_Besides, more importantly than that... They _belong_ together. Like puzzles pieces, they make a prettier picture together than I ever could with her. _

"Mada... Hey... I'm sorry, you know?"

I rolled my eyes.

"'Tch. Whatever, Hashi. I don't even want to hear that bullshit."

He held his sides and doubled over in laughter.

_Just as long as, one day, he marries her and keeps her safe, I'll be fine... I never really pictured myself as the boyfriend type anyway. Like my father said, I don't understand females..._

"Hey, by the way..." he said.

I glanced back at him.

"You ever dream about seeing Mito naked again?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes.

"Is that all you think about, you pervert?!" I exclaimed.

He shook with laughter again. I slipped my hands into my pockets and continued walking across the river.

"Well, do you?!" he repeated.

_Somehow, I feel like I'm done lying..._

I turned back to him and shrugged dramatically.

"All the time!" I admitted.

He grinned at me and I couldn't help but smile back.

"See you later, Mada."

I turned around, waving with my back to him.

"Alright."

I took the long way home, walking down the river just next to the forest. I tossed the empty cigarette box along with the book of matches up and down in my hand, walking up the path, until I got to the empty meadow I identified as the one Itsuya had died in. It was there, that I got on my knees and buried the items. I couldn't really explain what it was with me and burying things, but with my fingers deep into the Earth, cool and wet from the weeks of rain, I somehow felt more at peace than any place else.

The Uchiha Clan Village wasn't far from there. I continued downstream until I took a sharp right into the forest and hopped from tree to tree, limb from limb, in the scattered, multidirectional type of way we'd been taught from birth to do just in case outsiders were watching. The Sun had almost fallen by the time I got to the top of the hill and stepped foot onto my property.

There was a low rustling sound near the side of my home and then my mother rounded the bend, taking a basket of clothes out to the line to hang. I ducked under the wooden fence, seeing me approaching, she paused and waited until I walked up to her.

We appraised each other in absolute silence. Then her light blue eyes flicked over me curiously.

"I see you have all your fingers and toes. Was it a success then?"

_Mother... Just as inappropriate as usual._

"If you're asking have I come of age, then no." I said, but I slid my hands into my pockets. "However... the trip wasn't in vain."

"Oh?" she asked, turning back to hang clothes. "And why is that?"

"Because I realized that we, ninja, have a really difficult path to walk in life..." I explained. "But I'm choosing to walk it anyway."

_I must walk this path... So that, along with Hashirama, we can change the walk of life for all future ninja forever. We must struggle. And we must sacrifice so that centuries from now, people like us can know the peace that we never knew. _

She hung one of Izuna's robes and then looked at me for a moment.

"You know, when your father and I were young and he left the village to go on an expedition, he said something very similar to me when he returned." She told me. "I think it was 'wearing the chains of his duties so that his offspring can be free'...or something like that."

I raised my eyebrows at her as she shrugged, giving up on pondering my Father's old, complex metaphors.

_Since when does my mother ever speak about her past?_

"There is a point in every human's life when they must decide whether they'll pave their own paths or keep allowing their mother's to set the table for them." She explained to me.

Then she put her hands on her hips.

"So I guess this means you think you don't need me anymore?"

I rolled my eyes.

"_Please_, Mother..."

"Well, I suppose you still need me for fashion sense. Who on Earth told you those dark blue garbs you're wearing look even _slightly_ attractive?" she asked pretentiously. "Go inside and take those hideous things off, your Uchiha robes are on the hook."

I sighed, turning around.

_And here I was just beginning to think she didn't hate me..._

"Wait." She said, grabbing my shoulder.

I paused as she reached into her pocket, pulled something out and draped it around my neck all in one swift motion. I looked down at a necklace hanging around my neck. It had black tweed binding and a bright blue crystal piece with matching silver orbs attached to either side of it. I looked up at her curiously and was surprised to see her dip down and deliver a cool kiss to my forehead.

"Welcome Home, Madara."

THE END

Story Lightly Inspired By: Garbage- Not Your Kind Of People (From the Metal Gear Solid 5 Trailer SoundTrack)

Author's Note: If you're a reader that REALLY likes my Hashirama/Madara story plots, then it'll be good news for you to hear I'm currently working on "American Konoha 2" which is set in late 1960s/early 1970s America and is (somewhat) a prequel to "American Konoha" (which is a boyxboy story, that's your warning), so do me a SOLID and check it out "American Konoha" in preparation for it!


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